HARJOT SINGH BAINS KICK STARTS STATEWIDE DRIVE TO BOOST ENROLLMENT IN GOVT SCHOOLS; FIXES TARGET TO INCREASE 10% ENROLLMENT

• 23 awareness vans to cover all 228 educational blocks across Punjab to expand campaign's reach
• 189 students from government schools cracked JEE Mains examination as Govt Schools ensure quality education, says Bains

Chandigarh, March 20:

          To further give an impetus to enrollment drive in the state, Punjab School Education Minister S. Harjot Singh Bains kick started a statewide campaign for boosting student enrollment in government schools at Government Primary Smart School, Phase-2, SAS Nagar, on Thursday.

          To launch this campaign aimed at increasing access to quality education, S. Harjot Singh Bains flagged off a specially designed van equipped with banners and loudspeakers. A total of 23 such vans will traverse all 228 educational blocks in Punjab to amplify the campaign's reach and encourage parents to enroll their children in government schools. 

          He further highlighted the department's goal to increase enrollment in pre-primary schools by 10%. Last year, over 3.51 lakh students were enrolled in the state's 13,100 pre-primary schools.

          The School Education Minister said that this enrollment drive would play a pivotal role in identifying out-of-school children, promoting government school admissions, and strengthening community engagement to ensure universal access to education. Local MLAs, Deputy Commissioners, SDMs, local public figures, School Management Committees (SMCs) members, panchayats, and all school heads will participate in the drive.The main objective of the campaign is to raise awareness among parents and the community about the importance of education and encourage them to enroll their children in school, he added.

          Sharing the achievements of the School Education Department, S. Harjot Singh Bains said that 189 students from government schools have cracked the JEE Mains examination this year. This laudable accomplishment is testament to the quality education in government schools. He congratulated these students for their remarkable feat, while acknowledging the teachers who helped them succeed.

          Underlining the initiatives taken by the Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab Government to raising the standards of school education and infrastructure development during past 3 years; S. Bains said that all government schools have been equipped with all the essential amenities including Wi-Fi Internet connections, furniture, separate toilets for girls and boys, besides starting transportation facility for students of all Schools of Eminence and 17 schools for girls in the state. Additionally, over 10,000 new classrooms have been constructed and 6000 classrooms have been renovated, and 1300KMs of boundary walls have been constructed in 8000 government schools.  

          Director SCERT Ms. Amaninder Kaur Brar, Director School Education (Secondary) Paramjit Singh and other senior officials of the department were also present on the occasion.

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