Srinagar, Jan 9: The Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE) is relying on the examination fees collected from the students and the affiliation fees of schools to run the affairs amid no budgetary support from the government.
An official said that unlike universities, JKBOSE gets no financial support from the government and all the affairs including the salary and pension of all the retired employees is managed by the Board from the money collected from the students and the schools-as affiliation fees.
тАЬThe examination fees collected from the students serves as the primary source of revenue to run and sustain the operations,тАЭ the official said.
He said almost two decades ago, there was perhaps some provision wherein the government would provide some financial support to the JKBOSE but it has been so many years that the government does not provide the financial support to the Board.
тАЬBesides the salary of employees and the pension of retired employees, the Board takes care of the rent paid by it for its campuses which operate from rented accommodations,тАЭ the official said.
The official said they manage to keep the system running primarily through the money collected from students and schools.
The issue came to limelight as the annual examination for the class 10th to 12th students is scheduled from the coming month (February 2025) amid the concerns raised from different quarters that the JKBOSE was charging exorbitant fees from the students.
The examination fees charged from each student for class 10th examination is Rs 1180 for five subjects while the examination fees for the class 11th students has been fixed as Rs 1585 per student for five subjects and Rs 1830 for five subjects per student.
As already reported, this year, 132992 students have registered for class 10th examinations across J&K while 120673 students and 102298 students have registered for class 11th and 12th annual examinations this year.
As per the calculation, the revenue generated by the JKBOSE from the examination fees charged from the class 10th students is approximately Rs 15.70 crore while the revenue generated from class 11th examination fees is Rs 19.12 crore including the Registration Renewal charges which is collected at the rate of Rs 220 per student. Also, the revenue generated from examination fees collected from class 12th students is approximately Rs 18.72 crore respectively.
A JKBOSE official said the revenue generated from the examinations gets utilised on various aspects which starts from the setting of question papers, distribution of question papers, conduct of the exams and the evaluation of the question papers.
тАЬThe exam has many types of expenditures associated with it. Those who set question papers are paid by JKBOSE out of the money collected as exam fees. The other expenditures include printing of answer papers, remuneration to the staff deployed for exam duty. There are so many expenditures for exams,тАЭ the official said.
The official said the amount available is also utilised to manage the salary of the staff of the Board. тАЬBesides managing the salary of the regular employees who are recruited by the JKBOSE, the salary of the officers deputed to JKBOSE as Joint Secretary, Secretary or Chairman is also borne by the JKBOSE out of its own funds available with them,тАЭ the official said. Minister for education, Sakina Masood was not available for her comments on the issue.
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