33 govt schools fail to give account of agri land earnings
Faridkot, November 7
The Education Department has identified as many as 33 government schools in the state which have not deposited the income generated from the agricultural land in their possession.
As many as 97 government senior secondary and high schools in the state have about 520 acres of agricultural land with them.
‘Defaulters’
- Six in Ludhiana
- Five in Moga
- Three in Tarn Taran
- Two in Muktsar
- One each in Faridkot, Amritsar and Patiala
Asking the schools to generate more revenue from this land, the Education Department had asked the school managements to invite more tillers during the auctioning of land on annual lease before the beginning of the kharif season this year.
Urging the schools to ensure a growth of a minimum 5 per cent while giving the land on lease for the crop season from May 1, 2022, to April 30, 2023, the department had directed the authorities to deposit the lease money in its account without a delay.
Sources in the department said the land was attached with many schools to promote training and education in the field of agriculture. All these schools used to have subject teachers, too, so that students could keep agriculture as a subject. However, many don’t have one now. “There are 88 teachers for the subject in the state,” said Prem Chawla, a senior functionary of the Punjab Government School Teachers’ Union.
The Education Department has now asked these schools to give details of the income generated from this agriculture land and als whether they have an agriculture subject teacher or not.
The department also wants to check if the tillers of the land have burnt the stubble after harvesting the paddy crop. For leasing out the land for agriculture purposes, the department had asked the school managements to get an undertaking from the tillers that they would not burn the crop residue or stubble after the harvest.
