Punjab Congress’ senior leader and the Leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha Partap Singh Bajwa on Monday expressed serious concern over the state of school education in Punjab due to “sheer nonchalant attitude” of the Bhagwant Mann Government.
“The Schools of Eminence that the AAP government promised to come up with in the state are nowhere in sight. It is AAP's major election promise to upgrade the education system in Punjab,” said Bajwa.
He pointed that the AAP Government had announced that the government schools would be upgraded as Schools of Eminence. “Nevertheless, the Government is yet to prepare the list of the schools they are planning to upgrade as Schools of Eminence even after seven months of the government formation…On the other hand, the meritorious schools, meant for academically brilliant students, are already suffering due to sheer neglect,” he added.
Bajwa said that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government has been in power in Punjab for the last more than seven months now, and “in many schools, the students till Class VIII have still not received the books yet in the state-run government schools”.
AAP government would undo the entire hard work and the efforts put in by the previous Congress Government to enhance the quality of education in the government schools, he alleged, adding that the quality of education and infrastructure of the Punjab Government schools were often reflected in various surveys conducted by the Union Government.
“The students, till the middle-level classes, should have received the books in all government-run schools by the month of April this year. However, it appeared as if Bhagwant Mann and his Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains have no serious concerns to maintain the upliftment of these schools,” he added.
Bajwa said that not only the students would suffer the casual, careless, and nonchalant attitude of the government but the quality of teachers and the infrastructure of the schools would also deteriorate in the days to come.
“The non-serious approach of the Bhagwant Mann Government could also be gauged from the fact that as many as 22 districts in the State are without the posts of District Education Officers (DEOs),” he said.