Punjab government giving wings to students’ dreams: Harjot Singh Bains

The Punjab Government is committed to giving wings to the dreams of government school students, said Punjab Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains while reviewing the last Mega PTM (parent teacher meet) of this academic session at School of Eminence, Phase 11, today.

While interacting with the students, their parents and teachers during the Mega PTM, he said more than 21 lakh parents had participated in the Mega PTM held on October 22 last year, while the number was 20.55 lakh in December 2023.

For the first time, 189 students of government schools have cleared the JEE Mains examination, which is the basis for admission to premier institutions like IITs. The minister said 1.5 lakh applications had been received for 15,000 seats in the state’s Schools of Eminence.

As many as 42 Schools of Eminence and 425 Schools of Happiness have been set up in the state. Forty skill training schools have been instituted to prepare business blasters. He said in the past three years, 99 per cent schools had got boundary walls. Now, no student sits on the ground. There is a provision of separate clean toilets/urinals for boys and girls at schools. There is clean drinking water for all.

“We have installed Wi-Fi connections in 17,000 schools and solar power panels in over 4,000 schools. CCTV cameras have been installed in most of the schools and 250 buses are running in 125 government schools of Punjab, benefiting about 10,000 children. Government schools having enrolments 500 and more also have security guards,” said Bains.

The government has provided 20,000 teachers in the state. More than 525 teachers have been imparted training from Singapore, Finland & IIM-Ahmedabad for enhancing their teaching skills.

The new session will start next week and free books will be available from the first day itself. This time, there has been a saving of 27 per cent in the printing of books, which is about Rs 21 crore, said the minister.

Special Secretary, School Education, Churchil Kumar; District Education Officer Ginni Duggal and School Principal Lovish Chawla were also present.

Ropar: Meanwhile, Rupnagar MLA Dinesh Chadha visited various government senior secondary schools in the city during the Mega PTM and interacted with the parents and teachers. He said people should teach their children in government schools in stead of private ones. It will be a saving and lift the standard of education in government institutions.