Schools of Eminence: 117 schools shortlisted , Govt fast-tracks upgrade of 4 Amritsar schools

Days after it shortlisted 117 existing schools for the flagship ‘Schools of Eminence’ Scheme, the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab has set the ball rolling for upgrading four of these schools in Amritsar district on priority.

Days after it shortlisted 117 existing schools for the flagship ‘Schools of Eminence’ Scheme, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab has set the ball rolling for upgrading four of these schools in Amritsar district on priority.

The public works department has finalised the tenders and fast-tracked the work to upgrade these selected schools at ₹11 crore. (HT file photo)

These four schools, Government Senior Secondary School (GSSS) Chheharta, GSSS, Town Hall, GSSS, Mall Road, and GSSS (for girls) in Jandiala Guru - will be showcased during the G20 Summit meeting in Amritsar next month. The G20 education working group meeting is scheduled to start on March 15, and more than 120 delegates, including representatives of G20 nations, guest countries, and international organisations, are expected to participate. “A visit to these schools will be organised to showcase the initiative of the state government in the education sector,” said an official privy to discussions on the upcoming meet.

The public works department has finalised the tenders and fast-tracked the work to upgrade these selected schools at ₹11 crore.

“These senior secondary schools in Amritsar have been taken up on a pilot basis. We will try to complete whatever is possible before the G20 working group meeting. A lot of other things will be added later on,” a senior education department official said. These four schools have been chosen from among the eight shortlisted in the district. The department plans to start admissions in these schools in the upcoming academic session.

The state government finalised the list of 117 schools to be upgraded as ‘Schools of Eminence’ two weeks ago, out of which Ludhiana has the highest number of 16 schools, followed by Patiala (10) and Jalandhar (9). “The upgrading of these schools can be completed within the next financial year, depending on the availability of funds,” one of the officials quoted above said.

Finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema had, in the budget for the financial year 2022-23, earmarked ₹200 crore for the upgradation of 100 existing schools. He said these would be composite schools from pre-primary to class 12 and equipped with superlative infrastructure such as digital classrooms, fully equipped labs, vocational training facilities, and trained faculty. School education minister Harjot Singh Bains, in an interview with this newspaper in December, also said that the ‘Schools of Eminence’ will have a special focus on classes 9 to 12. “Each school will serve a cluster. Children will get admission on merit through an entrance exam and then provided free education and coaching for competitive exams for careers in medical law, engineering, medicine, commerce, and armed forces,” he said.

As per the scheme document, all such schools will have state-of-the-art facilities such as smart classrooms with projectors, LEDs, smartboards with speakers, and subject-wise e-content repository and interactive corners, besides being supported through additional resources. These schools will offer all educational streams – medical, non-medical, commerce, humanities, and vocational. “A pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) of 35:1 will be maintained. Modules for personality development, leadership skills, and self-defence will be rolled out. Continuous professional development programmes will be organised for school principals and teachers,” the official said.

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Head: District-wise break up of schools to be upgraded

Intro All such schools to have smart classrooms with projectors, LEDs, smartboards with speakers, and subject-wise e-content repository

Ludhiana (16 schools),

Patiala (10)

Jalandhar (9)

Amritsar, Sangrur (8 each)

Bathinda, SAS Nagar (6 each)

Hoshiarpur, Rupnagar, Tarn Taran (5 each)

Moga, Fazilka, Ferozepur (4 each)

Barnala, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Gurdaspur, SBS Nagar, Mansa, Muktsar (3 each)

Kapurthala, Malerkotla, and Pathankot (2 each)