A fee for printing and distribution of SSLC model examination question papers to schools has been levied on students for the past decade and there has been no new decision in this regard, Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty has said.
Addressing a press meet here on Tuesday, the Minister clarified that the fee was levied by the Oommen Chandy-led UDF government in 2013 as per a circular issued on January 5, 2013. P.K. Abdu Rabb was the Minister for Education then. The current government had only continued a practice followed for years in connection with conducting the SSLC model examinations.
Since 2013, students except those from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes and those who were orphans were being charged a fee of ₹10 towards meeting the printing and distribution expenses of the SSLC model exam question papers. This was collected by the district education officers through the headmasters concerned.
The funds remaining after meeting the expenses was transferred by the DEOs to the deputy director of education of the Quality Improvement Programme section in the Directorate of General Education.
The Minister said around ₹40 lakh was collected as fee from the nearly 4 lakh students set to appear for the SSLC examinations. The 2013 circular issued by the United Democratic Front (UDF) government clearly directed that ₹10 be collected from each student for meeting the question paper printing and distribution costs.
The Minister also took exception to a Facebook post by Mr. Rabb taking a dig at the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government for the fee collection, pointing out that the circular was issued when Mr. Rabb was the Education Minister. Mr. Rabb put out a Facebook post forgetting that it was he who had issued the order. “This indicates that Mr. Rabb had no idea what was happening in his own department when he was the Minister,” Mr. Sivankutty hit back. ‘
He also condemned the Kerala Students’ Union decision to hold protests marches to education offices on the issue, saying it failed to realise that the circular was issued by the UDF government. “Why did they not organise protests back then?,” he said, adding that the KSU should hold protests in front of Mr. Rabb’s office.
