Chandigarh, February 4: It is official now that Punjab has emerged as a pioneer state in the country which has succeeded in bringing in revolutionary qualitative improvement in school education during the past three years. As per the Economic survey 2021, Punjab has reported the highest attendance rate in the country of 61.6 percent of the children in the age group of 3-5 years i.e. early childhood education.
Punjab school education minister Vijay Inder Singla said, “Incredible as it may seem, but presently, Punjab is witnessing a renaissance era in school education. With a view to strengthen the foundation of learning level from the very beginning, our government, under the stewardship of Chief Minister, Capt. Amarinder Singh, is also the first in the country to start pre-primary classes on November 14, 2017. This achievement also mark the continuous efforts of the schools teachers as well who have been working hard to transform the government schools”
Mr. Vijay Inder Singla said that the dedicated efforts have fructified in form of overwhelming response from the community as in academic session 2018-19 the enrollment in pre-primary was 2.13 lakh, in 2019-20 it rose to 2.25 lakh and in the current academic session, 2020-21, the government schools have witnessed unprecedented enrollment of around 3.30 lakh students. He added that it indicated the change in the mind set as well as the trust being reposed by people in the reforms in school education in Punjab.
Mr. Singla said that moreover, keeping in view the positive change in the public mindset, which could be gauged from increase in enrollment, the Punjab government has started recruitment of 8393 pre-primary teachers.
The cabinet minister said that the pre-primary classrooms in about 13000 government schools of the state have been equipped with state of the art “Khed Mahals”( Model Class Rooms) by releasing abundant grants so that the tiny tots could be taught with a play way method. He added that in tastefully decorated Model Classrooms, toys, LED projectors for facilitating digital education have also been provided to make learning a joyful experience for the students. He said that besides, the material for the Psychomotor skills, outdoor activities like Slides, Swings, See-Saw, Balance Beam and social, intellectual and creative games etc. have been provided for the tiny tots.
Mr Singla said, “It also includes teaching learning activities focused on concepts around pre-reading, pre-number and writing, drawing etc. to ensure a conducive environment to the children for having better understanding, comprehension, vocabulary and oral expression. Teachers were imparted special training for nourishing the tiny tots during the pre-school. It also aims at creating awareness in the community regarding the importance of pre-school education and enhancing enrollment.”
The school education minister said that though the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic is unfortunate as it had forced the closure of schools and forced to maintain social distancing but the Education Department has succeeded in transforming it into an opportunity as the teachers accepted the challenge to prove their mettle. He said that they explored new vistas of latest digital applications and other innovative methods to reach out to students and their parents.
“The sacred bond between the teachers and the students in particular and society in general have been strengthened manifold during the turbulent period as the society has come to know how much caring the govt. school teachers are for the well-being of their students,” Mr. Vijay Inder Singla said.
