BISEs fee hike annoys parents, candidates

Rawalpindi, Punjab education boards` recent decision to revise the fee structure has perturbed the parents, students and the candidates as the examination bodies have been facing acute budget deficit over the years.

The information obtained from Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Rawalpindi revealed that the authorities raised different kind of fees charged from the private students for their registration, verification of documents and certificates, re-evaluation of the papers and inspection fee for checking the private schools for affiliation.

The fee for verification of HSSC has been increased from Rs750 to Ra1550, for attestation of photocopy of the certificates from Rs100 to Rs300.

“I wanted to get my HSSC verified from BISE as it is the requirement for taking admission abroad but was surprised to learn the amount being charged by the board,” said Jaffar Ali.

The charges for verification of educational documents by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) are Rs500 but the charges at BISE are much higher, he said.

The fee for re-evaluation of both theoretical and practical examinations has also been enhanced many times putting extra burden on the students.

Abrar Ahmed Khan, president of the association of private school owners criticised the increase in inspection and affiliation fee for the private institutions.

The registration fee for private candidates has been jacked up from Rs400 to Rs700 for annual examinations, the representative of private schools said.

The employees of the nine boards last year launched a protest campaign after the Punjab government waived the annual registration fee for the regular candidates in a bid to facilitate the poor students, said Mehr Akbar, representative of the BISE employees union.

He said that the Higher Education Department, controlling authority of the nine examination boards in Punjab ensured the protesting employees that compensation grants would be paid to the autonomous examination bodies but no action was taken so far.

“Punjab Boards Committee of Chairmen in the beginning of this financial year decided to raise different fees manifolds to make the budgetary deficits caused by waiver of registration fee of the regular students”, said Abdul Sattar Ramay, Secretary BISE.

The PBCC has the representation of all the nine boards in the Punjab and it has decided unanimously to increase the fees as it is difficult for the financially independent boards to meet their annual expenses, he said.