Chandigarh, Jul 25 (IANS): Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh announced, here on Saturday, government schools would not charge any admission, re-admission and tuition fees for this session because of the Covid crisis.

On the fee charged by private schools, he said the state government had moved the court.

He also announced provisional admission in Class XI for 31,000 Class X students in the open school system, who could not be promoted on the basis of internal assessment as no such assessment could be conducted due to Covid-19.

But they would be required to take examinations once things normalised, he said during the Saturday's edition of #AskCaptain.

He also announced Rs 5,100 cash prize each for 335 students who scored 98 per cent plus marks in the Class XII examinations.

Hailing the government schools for outscoring private schools again this year, the Chief Minister said the 94.32 per cent pass percentage in government schools was the highest in the school board history. He thanked teachers, staff and students who worked hard despite adversities.

Singh said there had been an unprecedented 13 per cent increase in admission to government schools this year.

All this could become possible due to various initiatives taken by his government to improve the education system, he said. Besides making smart schools, good teachers were recruited, science teachers were hired in border areas and steps were taken to ensure attendance of students, he added.

Good school education, he said was extremely important for building the foundations for future.

Responding to a plea from Manpreet Singh, a shopkeeper of Khamanu, Fatehgarh Sahib, whose daughter's name had been struck off the rolls by Garden Valley International School due to non-payment of annual charges, the Chief Minister said he would ask the Deputy Commissioner to intervene and ensure that the child was re-admitted.

"No school can remove students like this," he said and added strict penalties would be imposed on such schools.