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No govt school will be without teacher by March, says Punjab education minister
The issue of reservation in admissions for such children in recognised private schools and teacher-less schools was raised by Banga MLA Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi during the question hour on the concluding day of the winter session of the Punjab assembly.
The Opposition members locked horns with school education minister Harjot Singh Bains in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday over teacher-less schools, reservation for students from economically weaker sections and disadvantaged groups in private schools and the pace of work in ‘Schools of Eminence’ being set up in the state.
The issue of reservation in admissions for such children in recognised private schools and teacher-less schools was raised by Banga MLA Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi during the question hour on the concluding day of the winter session of the Punjab assembly. The member asked the minister how many children have been admitted and provided free education in private schools under it in three years and whether any budget has been earmarked for the same.
Bains, in his reply, said that according to the Right to Education Act 2009, free and quality education is being provided to students of all classes in government schools and government aided schools. “Each student, irrespective of social category, class, economic status or any other parameters, has the right of admission to government and government aided schools. All possible efforts are being made by the government to improve the standard in schools,” he said.
The minister said that when the present government took over last year, 3,500 of the 20,000 government schools were teacher-less or had a single teacher.
“The number of such schools has been brought down to 600 this year. By March, there will be no school without a teacher. We are working hard to improve school infrastructure. All schools will have wi-fi by March 31, 2024. About 4,000 have already got wi-fi,” he said.
The SAD MLA asked if they would help students enrolled in teacher-less or single teacher schools to take admission in private schools and whether any budget had been earmarked for this purpose. “The minister delivers good speeches, but his speech will not ensure good education,” he said. Bains asked the MLA to send him the list of teacher-less or single teacher schools, assuring that teachers would be deployed posted there at the earliest.
Gidderbaha MLA Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, in a separate question, asked the minister about the details of Schools of Eminence (SoEs), land acquired to build SoEs, and the amount earmarked, and new teachers recruited to run these schools. Bains said the state government had proposed to convert 117 government senior secondary schools into SoEs. He said that one school in Chheharta, Amritsar, has been converted into SoE from March 2022 and six more will be launched soon. “As the schools to be converted into SoEs already have excess land available, the government has not acquired any new land. New blocks are being constructed in 60 schools. During the year 2023-24, budget provision of ₹204.80 crore has been made for these schools. Out of which, Rs. 62.28 crore has been released to
PWD (B&R) and Panchayati Raj (public works) for construction, repair and beautification work of 34 schools,” he said. Also, no separate recruitment of teachers has been done for SoEs. Warring questioned the slow pace of work on SoEs, stating that as per the minister’s statement, only one had been started in 20 months and six would be started soon. The Congress MLA recalled a ruling party legislator’s statement regarding the SoE Chheharta that cosmetic changes had been made to an existing school which was already doing well. The minister replied that a committee of MLAs should visit the school so that they know what the government was talking about. Over 8,400 students of classes 9 and 11 are studying in 117 SoEs.
Change in criteria for issuing ration cards: Minister
Food, civil supplies and consumer affairs minister Lal Chand Kataruchak said the state government was making a change in the criteria for issuing ration cards from economic to social base. The cabinet minister stated this in response to a question from Abohar MLA Sandeep Jakhar regarding the ration cards cancelled in Fazilka and Abohar constituency in the last one year and the criteria for the same. Jakhar claimed discrepancy in cancellation, citing the examples of a poor family whose ration card was cancelled during verification and that of another well-off family which continues to have ration card. He requested the minister to get the matter probed. Kataruchak said there were some issues with verification as ration cards of some deserving had got cancelled. The minister also informed the members that during the last one year, 3,971 ration cards were cancelled in Fazilka district, out of which 1,549 ration cards were cancelled in Abohar constituency.
