Abolishing registration & exam fee in Punjab

CM may waive exam fee 'gradually'
Lahore, July 07: Financial implication to the tune of Rs3 billion a year involved in abolishing the examination and other fees being charged by all education boards is apparently compelling Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to abolish examination fee for matriculation exams only and not all the fees as 'enthusiastically' desired by the provincial chief executive at no less than two occasions in last couple of months.

"Abolishing registration and examination fee for matriculation examination for both public and private sector students will fulfill Punjab government's slogan of free education up to matriculation level," said sources in the education department.

Sources said the higher education department had moved a summary separately explaining financial implication for abolishing registration and examination fee for both matriculation and intermediate annual examinations as well as other miscellaneous fees.

When contacted, education minister Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman confirmed that it would not be rational to abolish all registration, examination and miscellaneous fees with just one stroke of pen. He said the chief minister would probably abolish registration and examination fee being charged for matriculation examination only.

It may be mentioned here that the chief minister had hinted abolishing boards' fees in a meeting at the Chief Minister's Secretariat on May 16 and later directed the higher education authorities at another meeting at the same venue on June 18 to implement his decision "within a day".

Terming fees charged by all the eight education boards as "fleecing the masses", Sharif had said that "a few millions of rupees to be generated from students, can be generated by the government itself". Prospecting students as well as their parents, however, are yet to see the realisation of the chief minister's 'dream' so far.

Soon afterwards, the higher education department worked out financial implication by colleting revenue details from all the eight education boards and calculated it to the tune of Rs3 billion a year.

As the department moved the summary to the chief ministers, the officials concerned also briefed the chief minister that it would not be rational to abolish all fees with one stroke of pen. They said the abolition of registration and examination fee for matriculation examination could be rational, recommending that the miscellaneous fees, which also run in millions, should not be abolished.

They also said that there was no point in abolishing symbolic FA/FSc registration and examination fee at individual level, when students were paying regular tuition fee for their studies in both public and private sectors.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the chief minister has constituted a large committee headed by columnist and MNA Ayaz Amir to finalise recommendations on developing a uniform education policy. Dawn

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Board officials oppose abolition of exam fees
Lahore: Senior officials of Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BI&SE) of the Punjab have opposed the Chief Minister Punjab's proposal wherein he had recommended to abolish the Examination and Registration fee from the students appearing in the various exams of BI&SE in Punjab.

A senior officer of the BI&SE Lahore seeking anonymity said that implementation of this order or proposal would paralysed the working of the boards as 80 per cent of the revenue of the Lahore Board was being generated from the head of the fee being abolished. He said that Board was earning more than Rs 70 crores annually in this regard.

He was of the view that government should facilitate students in their classrooms by giving them exemptions in fees and other heads. Some other officers were of the view that if govt was intended to facilitate students it should abolish the fee from govt schools so that good number of students could be facilitated and literacy rate could be improved.

It is worth mentioning here that CM had issued instructions to the education department to abolish the examination and registration fee to facilitate the students.

Education department has sought proposal from the various boards of the province in this regard and sources claimed the all the boards have opposed the idea.

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CM for ensuring modern tech edu
Lahore: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said skilled manpower can bring revolution in industry, agriculture and other sectors and institutions of technical education will have to play their effective role in this regard.

"If we have to put the country on the road to progress and prosperity, then not only we will have to prepare skilled manpower according to the needs of the industry but besides ensuring high standard training of master trainers, the syllabus of technical education will have to harmonise with modern demands," said the CM, while addressing a high level meeting held in connection with adopting future course of action for promotion of technical education in the province and reviewing the performance of Punjab Vocational Training Council (PVTC) and the Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA) at Chief Minister's Secretariat, here on Monday. MNA Shirin Arshad Khan, President Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mian Muzaffar Ali, Chairman Planning & Development Board, Secretary Finance, Chairman PVTC, Chairman TEVTA, Chairman Board of Technical Education besides concerned senior officers, members of TEVTA and PVTC and other concerned persons belonging to private sector attended the meeting.

Shahbaz Sharif also directed to set up vocational training institutes in such 47 tehsils of the province, which did not have such institutions. The Chief Minister directed the Chairman TEVTA to formulate a comprehensive roadmap within three days with regard to promotion of technical education throughout the province.

Shahbaz Sharif said the government was determined for promotion of technical education and all available resources were being utilised for this purpose so that maximum number of skilled force could be prepared which could not only play important role for the development and prosperity of the country but could become the source of earning foreign exchange by going abroad.

"At present vocational training institutes are working in 85 out of 132 tehsils of the province whereas these institutes will soon be set up in the remaining 47 tehsils so that the youth of these areas could be made skilful in various fields. Quality training should be ensured in all institutions of technical education and skilled manpower should be prepared according to demand driven skills of market and industries with the consultation of chambers of commerce and industries and other concerned departments," he said, while adding that besides re-examining of syllabus of institutions of technical education, quality training of instructors posted in these technical institutions should also be ensured and services of experts should be hired from abroad in this regard.

Earlier, Chairman Punjab Vocational Training Council, Yousuf Kamal gave a comprehensive briefing with regard to promotion of technical education in future and performance of the institution. Chairman TEVTA also informed in detail about performance of the institution. The Nation

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