Punjab Education Minister Aruna Chaudhary on Tuesday honoured 40 teachers with the ‘State Awards’ on the occasion of ‘Teachers’ Day’.
Chaudhary also conferred commendation certificates on five teachers besides honouring nine National Award winning teachers of 2016 and heads of 39 schools winning ‘Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar’.
The 40 State Award winning teachers were given Rs 25,000 prize money, a shawl and a medal. These teachers would also get one year extension in service. The other teachers and school heads were awarded certificates.
Congratulating the entire teaching community, especially the State as well as National award winners, she said the contribution of a teacher towards the society cannot be forgotten because a teacher renders yeoman’s service in building a vibrant and healthy society.
The Minister said the Punjab Government was committed to implement the teacher-friendly decisions and the Department was formulating plans to give maximum facilities to the teachers.
listing out steps taken by the government, Chaudhary said an online portal concerning leave to be availed by the teachers would be started soon which would prove helpful to the teachers in seeking permission for leave while sitting at home itself.
A decision has been taken to conduct Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) twice a year to meet shortfall in teachers’ recruitment, he said adding that a more transparent mechanism would also be evolved very soon regarding state awards on teachers day following which no teacher would need to apply personally for the award.