Before taking a final call over the closure of Government schools in the State having less than 10 students, Punjab Education Minister Daljit Singh Cheema on Monday convened a special meeting on April 18 to take stock of the ground reality. The decision was taken in a high level meeting between the Minister and the State Principal Secretary (Education) C Roul, Director General School Education (DGSE) Pardeep Kumar Aggarwal, DPI Secondary Education Balbir Singh Dhol and DPI Elementary Darshan Kaur.
The Minister has directed the concerned school authorities to furnish the performa indicating the parameters based on education status vis-à-vis population of students between six and 14 years in their respective schools jurisdiction. Taking stringent note of the poor performance of the schools in State level primary games, a meeting of the teachers of 245 primary schools has also been convened on April 18.
“In this meeting, the shabby performance of the schools in State level primary games would also be discussed at length and fresh guidelines for such sports to be held in future would also be finalised,” said the department’s spokesperson. The rationalisation policy was discussed in the meeting. “The Minister has decided that in the next meeting, a representative of the concerned teacher associations, unions would also be called for…Before finalising the rationalisation policy, the advice and suggestions of the unions would be considered,” he added.
He said that it was also decided in the meeting that the undue delay in filing the charge sheets and enquiries would be done away with proper review and monitoring of the working. “Computerised applications would be made applicable to expedite such procedures,” he said.