Punjab school education minister Vijay Inder Singla, on Friday, said that under the visionary guidance of Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, the school education department has decided to strengthen its liaison with all the premier institutions of the state for training and guidance purposes which would benefit the students in the field of academics, sports and scholarships as well. The cabinet minister was here to participate in a virtual launch program of advanced training of government school teachers by the Indian School of Business (ISB), Mohali. Mr. Singla also kick-started distribution of appointment letters to as many as 2,527 newly recruited teachers during the virtual program.The school education minister said that with the reforms and initiatives introduced by the Congress government, Punjab has become the leader of school education in the country. He added that the government and teachers, officers and other staff of the education department are committed to retain the top level position in the upcoming years also. He said that during the tough times of Covid-19, the teachers have ensured online education to the students despite many hardships.While addressing during the program, Mr. Vijay Inder Singla expressed his gratitude to ISB Mohali and said that it was a proud moment for the education department that a premier institute of the country has extended its help to provide professional training to the principals and heads of the government schools. He added that the education department would extend the program to all the teachers of the state as it would enhance their capabilities and teaching skills.Mr. Singla said that Bharti Institute of Public Policy (BIPP) in collaboration with the Department of School Education has organized and conducted several training workshops on ‘Leadership and Motivation’ for directly recruited Headmasters of Government High Schools through the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC).
He added that these workshops have been a part of an overarching project ‘Improving Quality of Education in Punjab’, that BIPP has undertaken with the department. He said that it was for the very first time that a training of this kind has been planned and implemented at this scale and a total of 152 Principals, 672 Headmasters, including 317 under Rashtriya Madhyamik School Abhiyan (RMSA) have been trained.The cabinet minister said that taking this initiative to the next level, the department has created an online training module which will be available for access to over 10,000 School Heads, Principals, Lecturers, BPEOs, CHT and HTs from all over Punjab. While these modules will have a larger reach, they will also provide flexibility during the pandemic situation. He said that the ultimate goal was to build the capacity of school principals so that they can create a nurturing holistic learning ecosystem in the schools by engaging with a variety of stakeholders.While congratulating the newly recruited teachers, the school education minister exhorted them to discharge their duty diligently to educate the students to build a strong nation. He added that to provide a transparent administrative system to the teachers, the Congress government has implemented the online teacher transfer policy under which the transfer was being executed purely on the basis of performance of the teacher.Chief Secretary Punjab Ms. Vini Mahajan said that Punjab government has introduced several new initiatives to improve the standard of school education which helped to provide a platform to the rural students to inculcate professional skills. She added that apart from smartphones, the government has ensured availability of LEDs and tablets in the schools to convert them into smart schools. She also lauded the contribution of teachers and said that the teaching community has actively participated in the smart school drive which resulted in positive outcomes in all the sectors of school education.During the program, Secretary School Education Mr. Krishan Kumar said that the ultimate goal of the in-service training is to build the capacity of school principals so that they can create a nurturing holistic learning ecosystem in the schools by engaging with a variety of stakeholders.On this occasion, DC Sangrur Mr. Ramvir, Congress leader Daaman Thind Bajwa, District President Youth Congress Gobinder Singh, ADC Anmol Singh Dhaliwal, DEO Malkit Singh Khosa, president legal cell PPCB Gurtej Singh Grewal, Chairman Improvement Trust Naresh Gaba on several other prominent personalities were also present.