The Punjab Government has provided 3.23 lakh bicycles under Mai Bhago Vidya Scheme to girl students studying in State Government schools.
“Mai Bhago Vidya Scheme was launched in 2011-12 with an ambitious aim to encourage the girl child to complete school education. Punjab government has also laid emphasis to check the frequent girl
drop-outs from the Government schools,” said an official spokesperson of the Government.
He said that the scheme envisaged mainly raising the academic and social status of the girls in Punjab.
“By providing free bicycles to girls studying in standards XI and XII of government schools, they could easily commute from one place to another,” he said.
Since the launch of this scheme, no batch of class XII passed out without the girl given a bicycle under Mai Bhago Vidya Scheme, added the spokesperson.
Giving the yearly details regarding the distribution of the bicycles, he said that 1,11,049 bicycles were provided in 2011-12, and similarly, 1,52,330 in 2013-14 and 60,000 bicycles were provided during the ongoing financial year 2015-16 till date.
The State Government has laid focus to empower girl students to pursue higher education and motivate them by giving bicycles, said the spokesperson. He said that the objective of this scheme was to strengthen and ensure educational activities preventing the girl drop-outs of Punjab schools.