Tofacilitate seamless e-learning in government schools amid Covid-19 pandemic,Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday virtually launched thesecond phase of the ‘Punjab Smart Connect Scheme’, marked by distribution ofsmart phones to another 80,000 class 12 students of Government Schools.
Theevent witnessed simultaneous distribution of phones at 845 schools today byvarious Ministers, MLAs and other dignitaries across the state.
Kick-startingthe second phase at the Government Senior Secondary School here, the ChiefMinister announced that the remaining 45443 smart phones of the targeted1,75,443 would be provided to students by the end of this month, tofulfill his government’s commitment tofurther strengthen digital infrastructure in schools. While his government hadtried to distribute these phones urgently to meet the online educationchallenges amid Covid, closure of the industry had somewhat delayed theprocess, he added.
Inthe 1st phase, 50000 students had received smart phones. Under the scheme, thestate government is spending Rs 87.84 crore for the digital empowerment of88059 boys and 87284 girls. The Chief Minister said that 877 tablets were alsobeing provided today in 22 senior secondary schools at the cost of Rs. onecrore. Earlier, 2625 tablets wereprovided to 372 primary schools at thecost of Rs. 2.99 crore.
Addressingthe students, Capt. Amarinder said when the Punjab Congress promised smartphones in its manifesto, nobody knew these phones would become so vital forstudents due to the Covid pandemic. He said he wanted Punjab’s youngsters to beabreast with the latest technological advancements for effective promotion ofdigital education, which leverages technology in a big way in the presentscenario. The Chief Minister said that smart phones and tablets would equip thestudents to meet the challenges of education during the trying times ofpandemic.
TheChief Minister reiterated his government’s firm commitment to provide the bestinfrastructure in schools to enable students to compete with their peers inprivate and convent schools. In this context, he said 7842 schools and had beenconverted into smart schools with the latest infrastructure, coupled withcomputers, tablets etc, and 1400 more government schools would also beconverted into smart schools by the end of the next year. Further, he said theSchool Education Department had converted 16589 classrooms as smart classroomsacross the state, and the remaining would also be covered under this scheme inthe next six months.
Evenas he congratulated the teachers for preparing the e-content, which is now usedwhile teaching the students online, the Chief Minister stressed the need forkeeping pace with the fast-paced changes in education globally. With Punjabissettled around the world, it was important for students also to learn Englishand other languages to enable them to be job-ready across the globe, he added.
Hisgovernment, said the Chief Minister, had ensured that every student studying inGovt. Schools gets the best education with the help of the latest gadgets. Punjab is the first state in the country touniversalize Pre-Primary School Education in the year 2017 itself, and the sameis now fully operational in all the primary schools. As many as 8393posts of the pre-primary school teachers have been created and the same wouldbe filled shortly, he said, adding that the introduction of the online transferpolicy for teachers, based on merit and performance, was another major step byhis government to raise the bar in education by bringing transparency into thesystem.
TheChief Minister said the recent reforms implemented in government schools toraise the standard of education had led to unprecedented increase in enrolmentby 14.9% as an increasing number of students were shifting from private andgovernment schools. He also underlined the need to promote sports education,for which his government was planning to set up gyms in all schools, he added.
Concedingthe demand of Cabinet Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu, who is also MLA from Mohali,the Chief Minister announced that the school would be upgraded to seniorsecondary level and named after 1971 war martyr Captain Ami Singh, Vir Chakra.Furthermore, Rs. 25 lakh would be given to the Government senior secondary School for Girls Sohana, he said.
Onthe occasion, Sports and Youth Services Minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhisuggested district-level Captain Smart Connect Conclaves for the Chief Ministerto interact with students before or after their exams to enable the latter toshare their experiences on online education. Cabinet Minister Balbir Sidhu alsoexpressed his appreciation for the Chief Minister’s efforts to promote digitaland smart education in the state.
EducationMinister Vijay Inder Singla said these Smart phones were distributed at 845locations across the State at the cost of Rs. 88 Crore provided for thepurpose. He said that 1400 more schools to be converted into smart schools.
Industriesand Commerce Minister Sunder Sham Arora said that smart phones would be instrumental inbolstering e-learning amongst the students amid Covid-19 pandemic.
PPCCPresident Sunil Jakhar, while congratulating the Chief Minister for thisremarkable initiative, said that it would result in ensuring quality educationwhich alone can tackle social unrest as only an enlightened and educated mindcan do that.
PunjabYouth Congress President Birinder Dhillon also lauded the efforts of the ChiefMinister to empower the students through such pathbreaking initiatives. EarlierChief Minister also interacted with the tiny tots of the Pre Primary wing ofthe school.
Prominentamong others who were present at the occasion included MLA Navtej Singh Cheema,Principal Secretary to CM Tejvir Singh, Director General School Education MohdTayyab, DC Mohali Girish Dayalan, SSP Mohali Satinder Singh DPI (SE) SukhjitPal Singh and DPI (EE) Lalit Kishore Ghai.