Punjab Government on Sunday announced a financial grant of Rs2.35 crore for 47 Government colleges in the State to provide special facilities to girl students, disabled and poor students. “The Higher Education Department has worked out a special component grant of Rs5 lakh for each college that would be utilised for uplifting the higher education standard of girl students, poor and disabled students,” said the State Higher Education and languages Minister Surjit Singh Rakhra.
He said that instructions were issued to all colleges to utilise this grant to make colleges disabled-friendly to ensure access of every disabled student to all facilities being offered by 47 colleges. The grant of Rs2.35 crore would also be utilised for providing free specialised coaching to poor, disabled and girl students so that they could compete with normal students on equal footing, he said.
Reiterating the commitment of the SAD-BJP Government to uplift the education standard of the poor, Rakhra said that this grant would be utilised for evolving disabled-friendly computer programmes, providing internet facilities to such students besides ensuring gender equality in the 47 colleges. The Minister said that instructions have already been issued to each co-education college to ensure separate toilets for girl students as per the standard lay out plan provided to them. “Punjab Government released Rs59 lakh to the colleges on Sunday and the remaining grants would be released shortly,” he said.