Ina slew of decisions to further improve the functioning of schools in the state,Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday gave in-principleapproval for legislation of TeachersTransfer Act in the Vidhan Sabha, while announcing Rs 500/month increase in thesalaries of Mid-Day Meal workers and distribution of another 2.14 lakh smartphones to Class XII government school students this year.
Theenactment of a legislation will give legal sanctity to the Teachers TransferPolicy, introduced by his government in 2019 to make the entire processtransparent, efficient and corruption-free, said the Chief Minister, pointingout that since the policy was brought in, not a single complaint of corruptionhad been received with respect to transfer of school teachers. Under thepolicy, which has now also been extended to non-teaching staff, of 1.12 lakhteachers, so far 21600 teachers had availed the benefit.
Onthe issue salary hike for MDM workers, the Chief Minister said it was a longpending demand of the workers, who had got a hike last in 2017. The move willbenefit 42000 MDM workers in 19000 schools.
TheChief Minister further announced that the process of distribution of 2.14 lakhmore smart phones will commence within three months, with budget allocationalready made for 2020-21. The proposal will be cleared at the next meeting ofthe state cabinet, and orders for the phones will be placed immediatelythereafter to enable distribution to commence within the time-frame, said theChief Minister. The proposal for procurement of smart phones for these studentshad already been sent to the Department of Industries, he added.
Pointingout that 1.75 lakh students studying in class 12th had already been providedSmart Phones during 2020-21, the Chief Minister said in addition, 3502 Tabletshad already been provided to the students of Government schools, while Rs. 5.25crore had been kept aside for e-Libraries.
Assertinghis commitment to the implementation of all the 20 manifesto promises withrespect to school education before the end of his term, the Chief Ministerdirected the School Education Department to formulate a scheme, and draft aformal proposal, for introduction of NCC training as a subject in all schoolsin a phased manner, beginning with the border schools. This, he said, wasimportant to inculcate discipline among students, especially in current times.
Reviewingthe functioning of the School Education department at a virtual meeting, theChief Minister said while 15 of the 20 promises had already been fullyrealised, two had been partially implemented, with only three pending. Thesewill be implemented also before the end of this government’s term, he said.While appreciating the achievements of the department, Captain Amarinder directedSchool Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla to further push the pace ofreforms further, with increased focus on digitalization and upgradation ofrural education infrastructure. He assured the department that paucity of fundswould not be allowed to hamper its functioning as education was one of the coresectors of his department.
TheChief Minister, while appreciating thatevery government school in the state, both urban and rural, has been provideddrinking water amenities and toilets, said that similar facilities should beensured in all Anganwardis also in the next two months. He also orderedimmediate steps for setting up computer labs in primary schools, for which Rs50 crore had already been provided in the budget for 2020-21. Notably, 2512 middleschools, 1709 high schools and 1894 senior secondary schools have already beenprovided with computer labs by the state government.
SchoolEducation Secretary Krishan Kumar informed the meeting that 250 schools wouldbe upgraded in 2020-21, with a draft policy for the same already sent to theFinance Department for approval.
Ina detailed presentation, he disclosed that 17778 teachers were recruited duringthe previous government from 2012-2017, while out of the 32425 posts, 12761recruitments have already been made and 13768 are under process, while 5896 newposts would be advertised soon. Apart from this, a separate cadre has beencreated for six border districts and a large number of contractual teachers hadbeen regularized.
Enrollmentin the government schools had registered an increase of 15.07% with 27.20 lakhstudents enrolled during 2020-21, he said, also noting the increase in passpercentage of Class X & XII students of government schools, who were nowfaring better than in private schools.
TheSecretary Education pointed out that Punjab was the first state to universalizethe pre-primary education with enrollment of 3.29 lakh students. Similarly,English as a medium of instruction has been introduced in 14957 GovernmentPrimary, Middle, High and Senior Secondary Schools covering 3.71 lakh students.
Inhis presentation, Krishna Kumar further revealed that of 19298 governmentschools, 12976 schools have already been converted into smart schools. Further,out of total 68263 smart classrooms, 41336 classrooms have already beenconverted into smart classrooms while 13459 were in the process of conversionand the balance 13468 would be converted shortly.
Underthe Green Boards and Furniture Drive, all the primary schools have beenprovided with furniture besides covering 21.8% of the Pre-primary sections andthe requirement for middle, higher, senior secondary schools would be completedduring 2021-22.
The Education Secretary also listed out other initiatives,including amendment to rules for direct and transparent recruitment of SchoolHeadmasters, Principals and Block Primary Education Officer, the Sports Policyfor schools, introduction of skill development under vocational education,among others.