Punjab Government on Tuesday claimed that no visa application had been or would be rejected by the Australian Government over the candidate having passed Class XII from the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB).
The “untiring and persistent” efforts by Punjab Education Minister Daljit Singh Cheema in taking up the issue of non-issuance of visas on such grounds with the Australian high commission “have finally borne fruit”, stated an official press release, issued by the State education department.
It said that the education and training department of the Australian Government had written to the PSEB chairperson Tejinder Kaur Dhaliwal — in response to her letter of April 12 on the issue — “making it crystal clear that neither in the previous time had any visa been refused with regard to the students obtaining educational qualifications from the PSEB nor in the coming time would such an action be undertaken”.
“The Australian Government has also clarified that under the Genuine Temporary Entrant (GTE) requirement, findings are not made on the basis of one factor alone and each application is assessed on its individual merits,” it further said.
The reported case of refusal of visa over Class XI from PSEB had echoed even at political rallies, with opposition parties underlining the sad state of affairs in Punjab’s education department by citing it.
Spokesperson added that Cheema had seriously taken the issue from the word go and discussed all its aspects threadbare in a meeting of the senior officers of the department convened recently.
During the meeting, it was decided by the department to take it up with the Australian High Commission besides Union Human Resources Development Ministry because the issue was directly connected to the future of a vast number of the students.