Taking an extremely serious view of the poor Class X Board exam results, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has issued strict instructions to the Education Minister to prepare a blueprint for raising the standards of education in the state.The Chief Minister has also directed the Finance Department to make available all necessary funds to the Education Department for undertaking urgent measures to improve the quality of education and infrastructure in government schools, according to an official spokesperson.The Chief Minister spoke to Education Minister Aruna Chaudhary on Tuesday morning to express dismay over the shocking 15-point dip in students’ performance in the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) Class X exam, which over 40% of the students have failed. He directed the minister to personally work on an agenda to raise the bar of education in the state in order to equip Punjab students to compete in the market for jobs and career progression.The Chief Minister said he was very disturbed at the deteriorating standards of education in Punjab, as a result of which “our children are falling by the wayside in the race for good jobs and professional career growth, with most of them even failing to clear the necessary exams for getting into the armed forces.”
The fact that only 24 students from government schools had made it to the merit list was a serious cause for concern, said the Chief Minister, pinning the liability for the poor performance on the Education Department, which is responsible for maintaining the standards of government schools, as well as the overall quality of education in the state.The Chief Minister had earlier ordered several sweeping policy changes to raise the bar of education in Punjab. At a review meeting of the Education Department earlier this month, he had approved a policy for online transfer of government teachers from the next academic session, on the lines of a similar system existing in several other states, including neighbouring Haryana.The chief minister had also asked the Principal Secretary Finance to make a special provision in the forthcoming budget to ensure proper infrastructure in terms of electricity, furniture, toilets and playgrounds for the students in all government schools in the state. He had directed the Additional Chief Secretary (School Education) to work out the estimated expenditure for raising the necessary demand with the Finance department in this regard.After the appalling performance of the students in the Class X Boards, Captain Amarinder has now asked the concerned officials to expedite the process of working out the necessary modalities for taking the improvement agenda forward on a war footing. He reiterated his earlier directives on inclusion of foreign languages in the school curriculum to enable gainful employment of students not just within the country but globally too. He has also once again stressed the importance of upgradation of English teaching in schools to empower students to meet global communication needs.