SAD’s senior leader and former Education Minister Daljit Singh Cheema on Wednesday said that during the tenure of SAD-BJP government, there was a provision in teachers’ Annual Confidential Report (ACR) to give eight marks to those who promote mother-tongue Punjabi language, but the present Congress Government “has done away with the provision and instead has started giving five marks to those who will promote English in schools”.
The people are surprised at the Government’s decision in a state whose official language is Punjabi, he said. Cheema said that earlier, the Government had made a provision to give five marks to those teachers who will teach 10 percent students of their class in English language and now this decision to abolish provision to give eight marks to those who promote Punjabi language.“It means that those who are pro-Punjabi and work for Punjabi language will lose 13 marks according to new rules framed by the Congress Government.
The message of the government for teachers is clear, no need to promote Punjabi as you will get nothing and lose 13 marks,” he said.Cheema has written a letter to state Higher Education and Language Department Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa and apprised him about the development.
In his letter, Cheema informed Bajwa that Education Department is ill-treating Punjabi language and he had apprised the Chief Minister about this. “Officers in the Education Department are working on a well-designed plan to cause maximum damage to Punjabi and efforts are being made to this rich language of Guru Sahiban.