Meritorious schools to reopen on Feb 9, Covid -ve report must

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, February 3

About a month after the resumption of physical classes for all students of day schools, the school education department today issued directions to open 10 meritorious residential/ boarding schools in the state.

These schools will resume functioning on February 9 but all students in these residential schools would be quarantined for 24 hours after they join the schools.

Punjab has 10 meritorious schools, opened by the state government under the “Society for Promotion of Quality Education for Poor and Meritorious Students of Punjab”. These are affiliated to the PSEB and are for Classes 11 and 12 only with the aim of placing deserving students in professional colleges at the all-India level. The students are provided free education, lodging/ boarding, books, stationery and uniform. The government school students who have scored more than 80% marks in Class 10 are eligible for admission in these schools.

As per directions, thermal scanners would be provided to the security staff so that all incomers are screened before entering the premises. Students need to bring along sanitiser and seven re-useable masks besides six pieces of soap or liquid soap. Parents’ consent will be taken before the students join the schools.

Students also need to bring Covid-19 negative certificate. This condition also applies to mess contractors and workers deployed by them. The mess, canteen and hall would be sanitised before February 9.

The warden will stay in the hostel. Only one person would be allowed to meet students and that too only in case of emergency. This person must carry Covid negative report.

4,000 students in Class 12

• While there are around 4,000 students in Class 12 of all 10 meritorious schools, there is none in Class 11 as no admissions took place due to Covid-19 this time
• These schools are located in Amritsar, Bathinda, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Talwara, Gabhdan village in Sangrur, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur and Mohali

Free education for deserving pupils

• The 10 meritorious schools are affiliated to the PSEB and are for Classes 11 and 12 only with the aim of placing deserving students in professional colleges at the all-India level
• Students are provided free education, lodging/boarding, books, stationery and uniform
• Government school students who have scored more than 80% marks in Class 10 are eligible for admission in these schools

Lift ban on recruitment for aided schools: Activist

• Social activist Bhanwer Lal Khatri on Wednesday demanded lifting of ban on new recruitment to fill vacancies of retiree teachers in government-aided schools, many of which were on the verge of closure
• Speaking at a function held at the 75-year-old RSD Girls Middle School in Abohar, he said the grant-in-aid scheme was launched in 1967 and 10,000 teachers were sanctioned for 484 aided schools
• “Till 2003, only 4,000 teachers were recruited after which the government halted the recruitment and the schools were running without the required 6,000 teachers,” he said, adding that thousands of youth who had qualified PTET test were still jobless OC

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