Reacting to a media report, newly appointed School Education Minister Om Parkash Soni conducted a surprise inspection of Senior Secondary Residential School for Meritorious Students, Amritsar along with district education officers. Sh. Soni was joined by DEO (SE) Smt. Sunita Kiran, DEO(E) Sh. Shishupal Kaushal, Dy. DEO Sh. Rajesh Kumar, Dy. DEO Smt. Rekha Mahajan during the checking of the the school.Informing about the visit Sh. Soni said that he has found out that in spite of the shortage of teachers, finances, resources the staff is striving hard to perform to their maximum. Sh. Soni said that he visited various sections of the classes and had direct talk with the students who shared their concerns, requirements etc. Sh. Soni informed that there are certain issues with water coolers, shortage of Mathematics teachers, issues related to extra coaching classes along with other requirements. Minister said that he has immediately ordered the DEO (SE) and officiating principal of school Ms. Daljit Kaur to coordinate and get the water dispensers fixed by tomorrow. He said that he has given standing orders to DEOs to immediately adjust two Mathematics teachers to this school so that the students may not face issues with their studies. Presently there is one mathematics teacher at the school against the posts of four. Sh. Soni said that these school are managed by 'Society For Promotion of Quality Education for Poor & Meritorious Students' headed by Chief Minister, Amritsar school has 320 students in Class 12 against 500 seats. Of these, 100 are for medical, 300 for non-medical and 100 for commerce.
The principals of these schools directly communicate their issues to the society leaving DEOs unaware about the issues. The Minister immediately ordered that the principals shall have to coordinate with the district education officers along with the society so that the issues may be resolved instantly. The minister did a round of the hostel and the mess and inspected the food quality which was being prepared for the students. Sh. Soni instructed the mess staff to improve the quality of the food so that the students may not face any health issues. Addressing the media Sh. Soni said that he has his ways of resolving the issues, for this first round he has instructed the authorities to mend their ways; next time if he finds any discrepancies the erring shall have to face strict action Replying to a media query about the expunged chapters from the board syllabus, Sh. Soni said that Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh has made it abundantly clear that that some chapters have been been shifted from Class 12 to Class 11 to align the syllabus with the NCERT’s guidelines so their is nothing more to define. He advised the opposition to play a constructive role and refrain from playing with the sentiments of the masses.