The Education Minister, Punjab, Dr. Daljit Singh Cheema today chaired 3rd meeting of sub-committee of Central Advisory Board for Education (CABE) at Bengaluru. In the meeting, all the participant states evolved a consensus about initiation of pre-primary classes in government schools as a way to improve educational standard from the formative primary level itself.The meeting was attended by Education Minister Karnataka Mr. K. Ratnakar, Education Minister Bihar Mr. Ashok Chowdhary, Education Minister Rajasthan Prof. Vasudev Devnani, Education Minister Uttar Pradesh Mr. Kailash Chaurasia, Principal Secretary School Education Punjab Mr. G. Vajralingam, Principal Secretary School Education Karnataka Mr. Ajay Seth, Principal Secretaries and other senior officers from Education Departments of Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, Vice Chancellor of National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NEUPA) Mr. T.B.J. Tilak, Joint Secretary MHRD-cum-Member Secretary of Committee Mr. Munish Garg, Mrs. Ranjana Arora from NCERT, Renowned academician Mr. S.K. Sridhar and Representative of CEO, Premji Foundation.
Appreciating the novel step of Punjab to conduct 5th and 8th standard examination by SCERT, the participant states described it as a need of the hour to further improve the standard of education in the country. In the meeting, all the attending states made the presentations giving details about infrastructural conditions at government schools besides offering solutions to bridge the gaps. The issue of quality teacher training was thoroughly deliberated upon at the meeting. The committee also discussed pre-service and in service training manual of teacher training module. It is pertinent to mention that the committee under the chairmanship of Dr. Daljit Singh Cheema has been formed by Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) for the purpose of betterment of educational standards in government schools throughout the country. The committee is slated to submit its report within one year regarding steps taken and plans formulated to improve standard of education in the country.