Chandigarh, August 6, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Punjab Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains on Thursday claimed that the state has achieved a major transformation in the school education sector, stating that Punjab has surpassed Kerala to secure the top position in the NITI Aayog School Education Quality Index 2026.
Participating in a discussion on an education-related resolution moved by MLA Prof. Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Bains presented a four-year report of the government’s initiatives and highlighted improvements in infrastructure, learning outcomes and academic achievements.
Recalling the condition of government schools in 2022, the minister said an initial survey had revealed that over 8,000 schools lacked boundary walls, nearly 3,200 schools had no functional toilets, and around 4 lakh students were studying while sitting on floors.
He said the situation had changed significantly, adding that textbooks are now delivered to district headquarters by February 15 and distributed to schools by March 31, ensuring that students do not lose valuable academic time.
Bains said he has personally visited more than 2,000 government schools across Punjab, including border areas, remote villages and zero-line locations, to assess ground realities and monitor progress.
Mission Samarth and Academic Improvements
Highlighting the government’s Mission Samarth initiative, Bains said it has emerged as one of India’s largest foundational learning programmes. Under the scheme, students are grouped according to their learning levels rather than their classes, enabling them to strengthen basic reading, writing and mathematics skills.
He said that during school visits in 2022, several Class 8 students were found struggling with basic sentence writing and arithmetic. Such students were brought up through level-based learning methods, and the programme now covers nearly 12 lakh students with participation from more than 70,000 teachers annually.
The minister also highlighted improvement in NEET-UG results among government school students. He said the number of NEET qualifiers from Punjab government schools increased from 80 in 2021 to 882 in 2026, crediting the Punjab Academic Coaching for Excellence (PACE) initiative.
Citing examples, Bains said students from government schools in Majitha and Dinanagar cleared NEET, while highlighting the achievement of Harnoorpreet Kaur, who secured All India Rank 3140 in her category.
₹3,638 Crore Infrastructure Upgrade
Bains informed the House that infrastructure development works worth ₹2,638 crore have been completed across 19,125 government schools, while an additional ₹1,000 crore World Bank-funded project has been approved for further improvements.
He also highlighted the transformation of Schools of Eminence, citing the example of the Shaheed Sukhdev Thapar School of Eminence in Ludhiana, where ₹18 crore is being spent on modernisation and 17 students have cleared NEET this year.
Responds to Opposition Criticism
Addressing criticism over government school enrolment, Bains said the decline is a nationwide trend following the Covid pandemic and is not limited to Punjab.
He cited national data, stating that government school enrolment across India declined by around 1.76 crore students after the pandemic. He also referred to the implementation of APAAR IDs, saying unique student identification has helped eliminate cases where students were shown enrolled in multiple schools without attending classes.
Responding to Opposition criticism, Bains said government schools should not be targeted and urged critics to focus on improving education rather than creating a negative perception.
“Target me personally if you want, but do not target government schools,” he said.
The minister further stated that the government has ensured adequate funding for schools so that teachers no longer have to depend on donations for basic requirements.
He said the objective of the Bhagwant Mann-led government is to make government schools the first choice for families and continue raising the quality of education in Punjab.
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