Chandigarh/SAS Nagar, March 29, 2025 (Yes Punjab News)
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, Mohali today, said that the Punjab Government led by Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann is committed to give wings to the dreams of the students studying in the government schools to achieve their goals.
The minister Sai that their government is ensuring better facilities in government schools without any hefty fees like private schools.
While interacting with the students, their parents and teachers during the Mega PTM, he interacted with the students and parents as well.
He said that there was a time when parent-teacher meetings were organised only in private schools, but now the Aam Aadmi Party led Punjab Government has started organising it as a festival in the Government Schools of the state. He informed that more than 21 lakh parents had participated in the Mega PTM held on October 22 last year, while during December 2023 this number was 20.55 lakh.
Education Minister Bains said that for the first time in the history of education in Punjab, 189 students of Government Schools have cleared the JEE Mains examination, which is the basis for admission to premier institutions like IITs. He said that 1.5 lakh applications have been received for 15,000 seats in the state’s Schools of Eminence.
He said that 42 Schools of Eminence and 425 Schools of Happiness have been completed in the state, while 40 skill training schools have been set up to prepare business blasters. He said that a lot of improvements had been made in school education in the last three years, as a result of which 99 percent of the schools have got boundary walls.
Now no student sits on the ground. There is a provision of separate clean toilets/urinals for boy and girl students.
There is clean drinking water for all. “We have installed Wi-Fi connections in 17,000 schools and solar power panels in over 4000 schools. CCTV cameras have been installed in most of the schools. 250 buses are running in 125 government schools of Punjab, benefiting about 10,000 children. Government schools having enrollment 500 and more also have security guards”, said Minister Bains.
He further said that Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann’s Government has provided 20,000 teachers in the state. He said that more than 525 teachers have been imparted training from Singapore, Finland & IIM Ahmedabad for enhancing their teaching skills.
He said that there is no need to worry about uniforms or books of students in this government. The new session will start next week and free books will be available from the first day itself. He said that this time there has been a saving of 27 percent in the printing of books, which is about Rs 21 crore. These small savings are being used to provide better facilities in government schools.
He said that there was a time when only negative things were heard about government schools, but today the situation has changed, Government Schools are contributing in the field of education as well as personality development and inculcating sports culture among the students. He said that the Government is committed to do more work for education reforms in the next two years than in the last three years.
Special Secretary School Education Churchil Kumar, District Education Officer Ginni Duggal and School Principal Lovish Chawla were also present on this occasion.
