Under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Punjab School Education Department has achieved remarkable milestones in 2024, with education being designated as a priority sector.
The Punjab Government initiated various training programs to modernize the skills of government school teachers and principals. Over 200 principals and education administrators received specialized training at the Principal Academy and Institute of Singapore International.
Besides this, 150 headmasters underwent training at IIM Ahmedabad, focusing on leadership, school management, AI integration in education and collaborative participation. Advancing further in training initiatives, 72 teachers, including BPEOs, CHTs, HTs and ETT teachers received specialized training at the University of Turku (Finland) to strengthen primary education.
To ensure proper maintenance, security and cleanliness of government schools, approximately Rs. 82 crore was allocated. This facilitated the recruitment of 1,689 campus managers and 1,265 security guards through PESCO for 689 high and senior secondary schools.
Likewise, arrangements were made for cleaning staff in 8,286 schools and 1,734 watchmen were recruited for government senior secondary schools.
The Mann government has developed 118 government schools as state-of-the-art Schools of Eminence and allocated Rs.29.3 crore for high-speed fiber WiFi internet connections across all government schools. Similarly, Rs.120.43 crore was provided for constructing toilets, additional classrooms, laboratories, libraries and other facilities. The state government has also allocated Rs.93.48 crore for classrooms and laboratories.
This year, free uniforms and books were distributed to students at the beginning of the session. To ensure excellent academic performance, programs like CEP, Mission Samarth and Mission Arambh were launched along with initiatives like Mega PTM to ensure parent participation.
The Punjab Government introduced transport facilities for 118 Schools of Eminence and 17 girls' senior secondary schools, significantly benefiting students.
School Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains highlighted that the government is continuously working to fulfill its promise of providing quality education. He said that district-level events have been initiated to gather suggestions from teachers and school heads for further improvements in government schools.