CBSE fee hike row: Congress, BSP, AAP criticise board’s ‘anti-poor’ decision

Manish Sisodia mulls setting up separate boards for Delhi 

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has said he has directed the education department to work out a formula so that the students do not have to bear the burden of paying the hiked fee. Noting that the Delhi government is the biggest stakeholder of the CBSE, Sisodia said if things continue like this, the government may consider having its own board.

“Our officials had a meeting with CBSE officials and urged them not to hike the examination fee as it will burden the students. Delhi is the biggest stakeholder of CBSE and our opinion should be valued. This way, we might be forced to consider having our own board,” Sisodia was quoted as saying by PTI. The minister also said that the Directorate of Education (DoE) has been asked to work out the formula on how to ease the burden on students.

READ | CBSE fee hike row: Parents association demands scrapping of new exam fees

“Vindictive” mindset towards socially oppressed sections: CPI

The Communist Party of India (CPI) termed the recent fee hike as central government’s “vindictive” mindset towards socially oppressed sections. The hike in examination fees of CBSE students of class 10th and 12th reveals the government’s “retrograde attitude”, the party’s official release mentioned.

In a statement, Binoy Viswam, the secretary of the national council of the Communist Party of India, said the move “undermines” the proclaimed principles of the right to education.

“The hike is applicable in all the CBSE schools from the current academic year itself. This move of the government reveals its retrograde approach towards students enrolled in CBSE stream. By tripling the fees for SC/ST students they prove their vindictive mind towards students belonging to socially oppressed sections,” a statement quoting Viswan, also a Rajya Sabha MP, said.

Congress protests decision to hike CBSE exam fees

Accusing the BJP of targeting poor and the SC/ST students by increasing class 10 and 12 board examination fees, the Congress demanded that the board should take back its decisions. Party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said after according step-motherly treatment to Dalits and tribals, the BJP government is now targeting the young generation by raising the fees of board examinations.

This is yet another attempt of the BJP government to tarnish B. R. Ambedkar’s dream of “be educated, struggle”. “We demand that the BJP government take back the CBSE decision to raise exam fees, failing which it would be clear that this government does not want to fulfil Ambedkar’s dream of “be educated, struggle” for the oppressed classes in the society,” he said.

CBSE fee hike to hit parents: Odisha School and Mass Education minister

Odisha’s School and Mass Education minister Samir Ranjan Dash said the hike in class 10 and 12 board examination fees by the CBSE will hit the parents. The CBSE has increased the fees of Class 10 and 12 board examinations by up to Rs 1,150.

“It is really a difficult situation for parents to meet the CBSE fee hike. The CBSE authorities should not have raised the examination fees at one go,” Dash told reporters after the All India Parents Association’s Odisha chapter member sought Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s intervention.

The board, which hiked the board examination fees 24 times after a gap of five years, clarified saying, “The board examination fees has been increased after five years and it is similar to the other central boards including the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) which charges Rs 2000, 1750 and 1300 for male, female and SC/ST candidates, respectively, at senior secondary level.”

The board recently notified the fee hike for the board examinations. According to the new regulations, the examination fees of Class 10 and 12 students belonging to SC/ ST categories has been hiked to Rs 1,200 from Rs 50, while the amount has been doubled for the general category who will now have to pay Rs 1,500.

– With inputs from PTI