Shiromani Akali Dal on Wednesday condemned the virtual discontinuation of Punjab Government’s laudable practice of conferring “life time awards” to two outstanding teachers and “state awards” to nearly 40 teachers each year describing it as “demoralizing and de-motivating”.
“It is a serious blow to the competitive spirit in the community to excel in developing new innovative teaching skills,” said the former education minister and SAD leader Daljeet Singh Cheema.
He said that such good traditions should be owned, adopted and multiplied to enhance a sense of responsibility in the teaching community which is assigned the task of nation building by shaping the younger generation.
The teachers’ role is not limited in providing knowledge but also character building and inculcating a value system in tune with the national goals. Under the life time award category, one male and one female teacher were conferred award at state level function of ‘Teachers Day’ on September 5 which included the prize money of Rs one lakh in each category. The teacher could be serving or retired as it is one time award.
Besides, nearly 40 teachers used to be conferred with state award which carried Rs 10,000 and the previous SAD-BJP regime had enhanced it to Rs 25,000.
The present government has dispensed with cash component and the awardees are only offered a commendation certificate, said Cheema.
Ruing that the noble practice of showing our gratitude by honouring and recognizing the contribution of our teachers has been abandoned for mere lethargy and gross apathy, Cheema urged the government to continue the practice, increase the quantum of prize money to neutralize the inflationary trends and also increase number of state awardees so that more and more teachers develop new teaching skills to improve the quality of education and students.