Closure of PSEB registration portal hits teaching in schools

Amritsar, October 10

The Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF) has questioned the closure of the online portal of the Punjab School Education Board, resulting in delaying the process of registration of students of Classes V and VIII of government schools.

Blaming the state government for causing the escalation of the situation with PSEB by not clearing the dues being demanded by PSEB officials, the teachers rue that the delay has caused disruption in classroom teaching. “Teachers in all government schools had spent days sorting out the process of online registration of the students of Classes V and VIII and now the portal has been closed since October 3 due to the strike by PSEB employees.

“The registration of a majority of students has not been done and the official deadline of October 10 has also passed. Who is going to be responsible if later the PSEB levies late fee or fine on students because of this? Every student has to deposit Rs 200 admission fee after the online registration, following which challans are generated. The challan or late fee is Rs 1,500. For parents, who are not even capable of paying the minimum amount of fee, Rs 1,500 is a significant burden,” said Ashwani Awasthi, a member of the DTF and teacher from Amritsar.

DTF state president Vikram Dev Singh had demanded the government and PSEB officials to extend the deadline for registration and depositing fee. But no announcement has been made in this regard till date.

Germanjit Singh, a teacher from senior secondary school in Amritsar, says October 10 was the last date to generate the offline challan for registration of Classes V and VIII. “The teachers are afraid of being fined for not completing the registration work on the portal. As information about the closure of the portal by the employees since October 3, on the invitation of the PSEB Employees’ Association was not made public by the education board, the teachers continued to work out ways of registration through online portal, causing disruption in classroom teaching.”

He said not giving any information about the closure of the board site portal by higher officials of the education board was an example of serious negligence, the consequences of which would have to be borne by the students and teachers.