Chandigarh, September 18
Facing criticism on the issue of education in the state, the Punjab Government has decided to set up a Punjab Education Commission to reform and standardise the primary, higher, technical and medical education in the state.
A panel of seven Vice-Chancellors has been appointed to prepare a report on the terms of reference for the proposed commission. The Vice-Chancellors have been told to give their report by October 15.
“We have decided to hand over the report to professionals instead of bureaucrats”, said a senior officer. The panel is free to talk to educationists.
The Vice-Chancellors of Punjabi University, Patiala, Guru Nanak Dev University, Punjab Technical University, Punjab Agricultural University and the Baba Farid University of Medical and Health Sciences are among the panelists.
Sources said a meeting of senior officers was held here today under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary, Mr K.R. Lakhanpal, to decide on setting up of the commission. “After receiving the report regarding terms of reference from the panel of Vice-Chancellors, the state government will name the members of the commission, which will be headed by a prominent educationist”, said the officer.
Senior officers
of the Education Department had recently visited various schools. They were shocked to find out that in most of the schools, students even failed to spell the names of weekdays correctly. Students did
not answer even most easy questions related to their textbooks.
And even educationists coming from Australia and other countries to enrol students for various courses in their universities have also pointed out Punjab students are weak in English and other subjects. There are several schools where all students failed in the Matric examination. The number of schools that fall in the bracket of 10 to 25 per cent result is very high. In the border belt, the school education system has almost collapsed.
Obviously, the proposed commission will be having a huge agenda. All disciplines of education required a major overhauling in the state. “Of course, the school education is major area of concern. But, our technical and medical education is also in a bad shape”, said the officer. In this competitive age, one could not expect an average finding a job in a private company.
What students are studying in the state does not match with the syllabi followed by most of the Central Government educational institutions. Educational institutions, including the Punjab School Education Board and various universities, which have the primary responsibility of standardising the education, have failed in their duty.
