Journalism of Courage
Punjab school’s big goof-up: Teachers to pay Rs 3 lakh from pockets to correct 113 students’ records
Initially, parents received messages to pay the amount. The authorities Wednesday retracted and said “not a penny will be taken from parents.”
The teachers of a government-run school in Punjab will contribute Rs 2.82 lakh from their pockets within two days to pay the Central Board of Secondary School (CBSE) the requisite fee. (File Photo)
The teachers of a government-run school in Punjab will contribute Rs 2.82 lakh from their pockets within two days to pay the Central Board of Secondary School (CBSE) the requisite fee to make corrections after the school staff, in a goof-up, allegedly swapped the names of father and mother in the the Class 10 registration forms of 113 students.
If not corrected, the students of Edustar Adarsh Senior Secondary School, Kalewal will get marksheets with their father’s name written in the column meant for mother and vice-versa.
With the CBSE charging Rs 2,500 per child for the correction, the school has to pay Rs 2.82 lakh by April 10 (Friday).
The Punjab government in 2008 had set up Punjab Education Development Board (PEDB) to set up and run Adarsh schools in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode to provide free education to the poor and needy children. However, in some cases, such as in Kalewal, the private partners abandoned the project, bringing schools under the direct administration of state government.
On Tuesday, parents received a message from the school asking them to pay the correction fee of Rs 2,500. However, after several parents gathered in school premises on Wednesday to object, the authorities said that “not a penny will be taken from them.”
Ginni Duggal, district education officer (secondary), Mohali and the administrator of the Edustar Adarsh School, said: “We are trying to find how this discrepancy happened, or if it was a technical error. The priority is to submit the correction fee to the CBSE so that the children receive error-free marksheets.”
“Not a single penny will be taken from any parent. We will submit the fee from our own sources and ensure that it is paid before the deadline ends,” said Duggal.
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Earlier, the school authorities in the message to the parents had sought “support” saying that an “unexpected and urgent situation” has arisen. Stating that the names of mother and father “were exchanged” in the registartion forms, the message further said, “We have received a mail from CBSE. The board has imposed processing fee of Rs 2,500 per student for correction. We need your support so that correction information is printed and our students can receive correct DMC from CBSE… As we have no time, you are requested to submit Rs 2,500 in school tomorrow (April 8) so that we can submit fee by April 9”.
Duggal said that the messages were sent to the parents “without taking her into the loop.”
“Once I got to know and intervened, the matter was sorted and the principal has been instructed that not a penny will be taken from parents. Teachers and other staff have decided to contribute on their own,” Duggal told The Indian Express.
Principal Suman Lata said it was decided to take help from the parents as it was an emergency situation. “Later the idea was dropped. We have decided not to take government help and the school staff will contribute from their pockets to collect the amount. Teachers have decided to take responsibility of the clerical mistake,” she said.
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