Collected Rs 94 cr for exams never held, PSEB now charges for marksheet

Tribune News Service

Karam Prakash

Patiala, April 6

After having collected Rs 94.56 crore as fee for exams that were never conducted owing to the Covid spread, the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) is now demanding Rs 800 each from students for the hard copy of the result.

In the 2020-21 academic session, the students of Class X and XII were promoted on the basis of their previous assessment. The PSEB had collected Rs 1,100 each from students as examination fee, totalling Rs 38.75 crore for Class X and Rs 55.51 crore for Class XII.

Board minting money

The board already made a profit worth crores of rupees for exams that were never held. It now wants to charge more from students. —Vikram Dev, Democratic teachers front

Not making profit

All preparations were made to conduct the exams… a soft copy is available for free. Hard copy is not mandatory. Thus, Rs 800 is being charged. — Dr Yograj, Chairman, PSEB

The Democratic Teachers Front (DTF), which had earlier voiced concern over the collection of examination fee, is opposing the board’s move to charge more from students. The association, which has met the school board chairman over the issue, said the board made a profit worth crores of rupees for exams that were never held. Vikram Dev, president, DTF, said, “We have raised our objection on the matter. A majority of the students belong to underprivileged sections. The move clearly shows that the government is insidiously making education unaffordable for them.”

Dev said the school board should either refund the examination fee to the students or provide the certificates free of cost.

Dr Yograj, Chairman, PSEB, said it was wrong to say the board was making profits. “All preparations were made to conduct the exams. Even the question papers were printed. We could not conduct the exams due to high Covid cases.”

He said a soft copy of the certificate could be accessed through DigiLocker app for free. “The hard copy is not mandatory. Therefore, Rs 800 is being charged from those who want it,” he said.

The board chairman said only Rs 100 would be charged along with the examination fee from the next session, if the student opted for a hard copy of the result certificate.

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