Coronavirus Lockdown: Punjab education minister tells schools to not demand fees; notices sent to 23 institutions

Punjab’s education minister Vijay Inder Singla has said that private schools across Punjab have been issued show-cause notices for demanding fees during the coronavirus lockdown. As many as 23 schools have been brought to task for not following the guidelines issued by the Punjab government. [caption id=“attachment_8241131” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Punjab education minister Vijay Inder Singla. News18[/caption] The education minister shared a short clip on Twitter, where he revealed the figures and asked private school owners to take a humanitarian approach and not hamper the future of students during these trying times. The minister urged schools to not send any message to students regarding the deposition of fee during the lockdown. He asked students and their guardians to reach out to him directly on his email to submit complaints against schools which are demanding fees.

Keeping in view the sensitivity of the #COVID19 lockdown situation, strict action shall be taken against all those private schools who are not following Punjab Govt’s directives of deferring admissions and not charging late fee. pic.twitter.com/wtxjDNWccy

— Vijay Inder Singla (@VijayIndrSingla) April 7, 2020

On 23 March, the education department had directed all private schools in the state to reschedule their admissions for 2020-21, reported The Tribune. Schools were asked to provide a window of at least 30 days to submit their fees after the situation returned to normal. As per the report, schools were also directed not to charge any late fee from the students for this lockdown period. Punjab has seen a total of 91 confirmed COVID-19 cases with seven deaths. Across the country, the number of positive cases has crossed the 5,000 mark and over 140 deaths have been reported.