Chandigarh, July 25: The Punjab government will not levy admission, re-admission or tuition fees on students for the academic year 2020-21, announced Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday. The waiver will be applicable for students enrolled in all government schools across the state.

The rationale behind the measure was to prevent burden on parents, as most of them are reeling under reduced income due to the outbreak of COVID-19. The next set of fees would only be levied by the state government from the beginning of academic year 2021-22. Punjab Govt Warns People Not to Click on Any URL Circulated via SMS/WhatsApp Claiming COVID-19 Relief Package of Rs 2000 for Each Citizen.

"Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has announced that government schools in the state will not charge any admission, re-admission and tuition fee from students for the 2020-21 academic session on account of the COVID-19 crisis," said a statement issued by the Government of Punjab.

Update by ANI

Schools across the state are closed since mid-March, after the outbreak of coronavirus in India. Despite several relaxations announced in the lockdown over the past four months, the curbs on operation of schools, colleges and other educational institutions are yet to be lifted.

The Human Resources and Development (HRD) Ministry had, earlier this month, issued guidelines for online classes for students. For those based in Classes 1-8, the screentime has been restricted to 1 hour, 30 minutes and for students in the crucial 9-12 grades, a maximum period of three hours per day is permitted.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 25, 2020 09:37 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).