PANJIM: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday claimed that some government-aided schools are in the habit of charging additional money from students in spite of getting all aids and warned that action will be initiated if the government receives any complaints in this regard.
Addressing a press conference at Mantralaya at Porvorim, Sawant, who is also the Education Minister, said, “Some aided schools are habituated to charging additional money from students despite getting all aid from the government. These schools should stop taking extra fees. Parents should be alert about this.”
He said, “Government pays salaries of teachers, rent, maintenance grants and even pays for painting of the school buildings. Rs 5 lakh is given to every school for operating Bal Rath buses to ferry students. This includes the salary of drivers and cleaners, and also maintenance. It is the responsibility of the schools to maintain the buses. If the buses are run without getting fitness certificates, then we will take action against the concerned school.”
Sawant said in the long run, the State government is considering changing Recruitment Rules (RR) for all government jobs to ensure that they are in line with the job profile.
“For example, as per the existing recruitment rules for the post of lab technician, Std 12 was the qualification. In future this may be changed to a Science Graduate,” he said.
While pointing out that the State has 104 Higher Secondary schools - nine government, 91 government-aided and four unaided, he said efforts are underway to ensure that no student is left without admission to Std 11.
The Chief Minister said there are a sufficient number of teachers in the schools and the process of giving them promotions have been started and that will be completed in a month or two.