Chandigarh, August 18, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Punjab Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains on Tuesday presented the four-and-a-half-year performance report of the state’s school education sector, claiming that a ₹2,300-crore reform programme under the Bhagwant Mann government has significantly improved infrastructure, learning outcomes and student enrolment in government schools.
Addressing a press conference at Punjab Bhawan, Bains said 3.64 lakh students had shifted from private schools to government schools since 2022, which he described as evidence of growing public confidence in the government education system.
He also claimed that Punjab had surpassed Kerala to emerge as the top-performing state in school education in the NITI Aayog Report 2026-27 in terms of classroom learning outcomes.
Recalling the Aam Aadmi Party’s electoral promise, Bains said Arvind Kejriwal and Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann had sought a mandate to improve government schools and that the government had honoured that commitment.
Describing the condition of schools inherited in 2022, Bains said many lacked basic facilities, including boundary walls, functional toilets and drinking water, while around four lakh children were forced to sit on floors and textbooks were delivered months late.
According to the minister, the state has since invested ₹2,300 crore in school infrastructure, averaging around ₹15 lakh per school. He said 13,920 toilets have been constructed, two lakh desks distributed, more than 9,000 classrooms and laboratories built, and over 10,000 interactive panels installed.
He further said 5,012 schools had been upgraded with advanced computer laboratories, all government schools had Wi-Fi connectivity and 99.9 per cent had boundary walls.
Government schools have also been equipped with facilities such as swimming pools, shooting ranges, basketball and tennis courts, Kabaddi mats and wrestling and boxing rings, Bains said.
On teacher training, he said multiple batches of principals had been sent to Singapore, primary teachers to Finland and headmasters to IIM Ahmedabad.
For school security and maintenance, ex-Army personnel have been deployed as campus managers in all senior secondary schools. Two security guards have also been posted at senior secondary schools with more than 500 students. Monthly cleaning grants ranging from ₹3,000 to ₹50,000 are being provided based on student strength.
Improvement in Academic Outcomes
Bains said 786 government school students had qualified JEE and 2,166 had cleared NEET over the last four years. NEET-UG qualifiers from government schools increased from 80 in 2021 to 882 in 2026.
He gave the year-wise figures as 437 qualifiers in 2024, 847 in 2025 and 882 in 2026. A total of 361 students qualified JEE Mains, of whom 64 cleared JEE Advanced, he said.
The minister attributed the rise in enrolment in government schools to increasing public trust, reiterating that 3.64 lakh students had moved from private schools since 2022.
AI, Business Blasters and Skill Education
Bains said Punjab had become the first state to introduce Artificial Intelligence as a core subject from Class I to XII.
The Business Blasters programme, he said, provided 2.30 lakh students with practical business experience. The government provided ₹29 crore as seed funding, while students generated ₹3 crore in profits, according to the minister.
He also said 40 dedicated skill education schools had been established for students who dropped out after Class 10, with the aim of bringing them back into the education system.
To reduce the financial burden on families, the state has capped annual school fee increases at a maximum of five per cent, Bains said.
Free bus services for government school students are also being provided, benefiting more than 15,000 students every day across hundreds of schools, he added.
Flood-Damaged Schools Being Restored
Bains said more than 7,000 schools in Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Ropar, Ferozepur and Fazilka were damaged in the floods of 2023 and 2025.
Working with the World Bank, the government is restoring 500 severely damaged schools, with most of the projects expected to be completed within six months, he said.
Bains said he had personally visited more than 2,000 schools across Punjab and maintained that improving school education remained his top priority.
“I have personally visited over 2,000 schools. No district is left. Education is my passion, this is my obsession. 20,000 schools in Punjab and I am on a mission,” he said.
He added that the government aimed to make Punjab the first state within two years where no school lacked essential facilities.
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