Gurgaon: In Feb this year, the Haryana govt decided to get creative with the year-end report cards for PM-Shri school students — planning a colour booklet instead of the usual black-and-white single-sheet report card, detailing each student’s extracurricular achievements as well as academic grades.Instead, the session ended with students receiving the old marksheets, not due to poor planning but because the education department did not budget adequately.The state education directorate mandated these cards for Classes VI to XII. However, only one-tenth of the required amount was allocated: Rs 15 per student, far below the estimated printing cost of Rs 150-180 per copy.Moreover, the reduced fund, roughly Rs 23 lakh, was released only on March 27, just days before the March 31 academic session deadline. The mismatch between allocated funds and actual costs, coupled with the delayed release, left over 1.55 lakh students without the promised booklets.This initiative, part of the PM-Shri schools scheme, aimed to introduce “holistic progress cards” in line with NEP 2020. The shortfall made implementation impossible. About 250 school heads returned the funds before March 31, citing the financial gap.Satyanarayan Yadav, assistant project coordinator of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in Gurgaon, said, “Even the inadequate funds arrived on March 27, when the session was nearly over. Since the budget pertained to the previous session, it lapsed and had to be returned.” Schools issued regular report cards instead.The incident highlights the gap between official estimates and market costs. Local printers noted that even a basic black-and-white A4 sheet costs around Rs 25, exceeding the per-student budget and falling far short of what is needed for a multi-page colour booklet. This created logistical challenges across the state.The total shortfall is estimated at nearly Rs 2 crore, prompting schools to return the Rs 23 lakh to the treasury. Gurgaon’s eight PM-Shri schools, with 8,789 students, received Rs 1,31,835; Faridabad’s six schools, with 4,443 students, were allocated Rs 66,645; and Nuh’s 14 schools, with 11,048 students, received Rs 1,65,720.Educationists and school leaders expressed deep frustration, calling the situation a “cruel joke” on students and staff. One teacher said the directorate failed to check market rates before issuing the order. “The academic session deadline passed, the budget lapsed, and students promised modern, comprehensive records are left empty-handed,” the teacher added.Senior officials have promised corrective action. State project director Varsha Khangwal said the department would review how the Rs 15 allocation was determined and might raise the matter with the central govt. Education department Pradhan Sachiv Vijay Kumar Dahiya ordered a formal inquiry and assured steps to ensure students eventually receive their report cards.
