Rs.5 lakh Reward for information of bribery in teachers’ transfers: Soni

· Education Minister instructed officers to make sure printing and distribution of books well before academic sessions

· Online Tendering System be adopted for all department related works

Chandigarh; July 11:

Punjab Education Minister Mr. Om Prakash Soni today said that corruption in teachers’ transfers will not be tolerated at any cost. He announced that any whistle-blower, who gives information with concrete proof of bribe in the teachers’ transfers, will be rewarded with Rs.5 lakhs. He said that transfers are being done in transparent manner and any political pressure or monetary activity has not been allowed in any way.

Presiding over a high-level meeting of officers of the education department and Punjab School Education Board, Mr. Soni directed officers to ensure printing and distribution of books well before the session begins as every year stock of books of many subjects has been piled in board premises sans distribution and afterwards these were announced as trash. He said that delay in publications of books benefitted to private publishers and this trend needs to be restrained. He categorically instructed the officers to fix the responsibility of school principals for the distribution of books in time bound manner.

“All the books will be published by the board with the suggestion of experts so that growing trend of guides could be discontinued”, he cautioned the officers adding that the quality of books should be maintained by using good quality paper. He further said that to ensure the authenticity and accuracy of the information, experts should be roped in. He also directed to shut down the schools functioning in dwelling areas with the help of local government department.

Mr. Soni directed that online tendering process will be adopted for all department related work besides checking revenues and expenditure of the Punjab School Education Board so that the board could increase its income and reduce expenditure. He also emphasized to make Punjab School education board financially self-reliant. The Education Minister asked to constitute a committee for comparative study of education boards of other states to further improve the functioning of the Punjab School education board.

Mr. Krishan Kumar, Secretary Education, Mr. Prashant Kumar Goyal, Director General of School Education, Mr. Manohar Kant Kalohiya, Chairman of Punjab School Education Board, Mr. Paramjit Singh, DPI (Secondary) and Mr. Inderjit Singh, DPI (Elementary) and other officers were present in the meeting.