To facilitate the poorest of poor but brilliant rural students for having access to the quality education, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Monday called for a “revolutionary” upgradation of school education in the State.
Presiding over a high-level meeting of varsity Vice-Chancellors, principals of Chandigarh’s prestigious Government Model Senior Secondary Schools and other educational experts of the state, Badal asked them to play a pro-active role in complete transformation of school education in the State.
“We just can’t afford to let our poor meritorious students to suffer due to lack of infrastructure and proper counseling. The poor meritorious students thus deserve special attention for shaping their destiny,” said Badal.
laying thrust on the need for providing quality education to poor students securing more than 80 per cent at metric level, Badal said that universities must evolve a mechanism through which these bright students could be groomed from 10-plus-one and two classes by imparting the quality education in professional courses.
“Universities must initiate program under ‘University Colleges of Professional Studies for Rural students’ under which they must develop a centre or school in major cities under their jurisdiction where the students could be delivered quality education free
cost along with boarding and lodging facilities,” said Badal.
Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) chairman apprised the Chief Minister that nearly 3,200 such brilliant students had been identified by them who have secured more than 80 per cent marks in matriculation while studying in the rural schools during the academic year 2012-13.
Badal asked the state Education department to prepare an action plan to set up such schools at major cities like Mohali, Jalandhar, ludhiana, Patiala, Amritsar and Bathinda, which would functional from the next academic session.
Underscoring the need for giving career guidance to the meritorious students, Badal asked the universities to take initiative to make the students aware about their career prospects by organising special camps for them. He also asked the Education department to publish small booklets for this purpose to be distributed amongst the students.
Emphasising on the need for more research in the various fields, the Chief Minister also constituted a committee of the Vice-Chancellors and educational experts to finalise the proposals regarding research to be undertaken by them in various fields.
He asked the committee to examine the various aspects of the research to be undertaken by them so that overlapping could be avoided.