President of the association, Parveen Dang, said, “Many schools do not have their VAT numbers and they sell items like calendars, pencil boxes and stationary without paying the tax to the government.”

Jain said all these issues were raised by MLA Avtar Singh Brar in the state Assembly on June 23, but the government has not taken any action in this regard yet.

He added that when representatives of the association met education minister on the issue of fee hike, instead of any affirmative action, she asked the parents to send their children to government schools.

“Punjab’s outcome index in the report of the National University of Educational Planning and Administration is 11 for primary level, while for upper primary level the state ranks 29th out of 35 states and UTs in the country. Even after the Centre has approved the Right to Education Bill, the Punjab government has failed to take up education seriously,” Jain said.