AMRITSARM – The newly constituted body of the SGPC has announced to “renew” its policy of providing free education to baptised Sikh students till Class XII at its institutions.
The scheme, which started in 2014, had suffered a setback last year following complaints that some non-baptised students were getting “undue privilege”, apparently due to leniency in verification.
To avoid it, the sole responsibility of verification would now be with the Principal or the in charge of the institution.
As per the policy, Sikh children who take part in the Amrit Sanchar ceremony and whose parents also observe baptism in its true letter and spirit would be eligible to claim full fee concession. This includes the admission fee and the tuition fee.
Parents would now have to furnish an affidavit with the concerned institution head in this respect. There are around 45 institutions running under the SGPC. Though the quantum of budget under this policy for the upcoming session (2017-2018) is yet to be evaluated, the preceding budget in 2014-2015 had exceeded Rs 7 crore.
Sources in the SGPC stated that last year, some cases had surfaced wherein parents made their children wear ‘gatra with shri sahib’ (religious symbol) to garner the benefit of this policy.
“Thereafter, the policy was put on hold for a shorter span and the SGPC just offered monetary benefit under the scholarship title to the baptised students who fared well in studies. This had curtailed the budget to Rs 2 crore during the 2015-2016 session,” he said. The scholarship carried Rs 2,000 annually for students at the primary level, Rs 3,000 up to Class X and Rs 4,000 for Class XII students.
SGPC’s Additional Secretary Balwinder Singh (Dharam Parchar) said the free education policy was never discontinued, but a few cases of undeserving students had come to fore in the past. He confirmed that the scholarship scheme too would persist on the same parameters. “We have fixed the responsibility of Principals to certify that only baptised students, whose parents too observe all the laid down principles and practices of Sikhism, qualify for claiming this benefit,” he said.
