In an effort to provide quality education in rural areas, the Punjab government plans to open 300 schools in these areas in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode, for which panchayat land would be leased out to multi-national companies (MNCs).
Giving details of the scheme, Punjab education minister Sikander Singh Maluka said the panchayat concerned would lease 3-5 acres for 32 years to MNCs, which would set up quality infrastructure for school education.

"We are coming up with 100 schools under this scheme this year. Two hundred such schools are already in the pipeline. The MNCs would ensure sponsored education for at least 25% of the total intake in such schools, which would be offered to students from below-poverty-line (BPL) families belonging to the area concerned," the minister said while speaking to HT on the sidelines of the state-level CU Tech Fest 2013 on the campus of Chandigarh University, Gharuan, in SAS Nagar district.

Talking about other initiatives taken by the state government to strengthen educational infrastructure, Maluka said, "Students who will score 80% or more marks in the matriculation examination will be given special coaching during classes 11 and 12 (science stream) so that they can compete in various national-level entrance examinations. Also, in order to boost interest of students in medical and non-medical streams, the Punjab government is set to launch mobile science laboratories across the state."