Year Ender Education : AAP's claims aside, government schools demand attention

Shivani Bhakoo

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), ruling in Punjab, has maintained that its focus remains on bringing quality education to the government schools. In fact, the party has openly said instead of putting the wards in private schools, one must prefer government schools as the party has overhauled the education system by providing state of the art facilities.

Though many new educational modules have been introduced in these schools, there has been a mixed response to the implementation of the same. The teaching fraternity believes that these measures remain on paper alone, either being unviable or a mere eyewash. The government schools still face many serious problems.

The lows
Staff crunch

Despite tall claims by the government of providing best education to the students in the government schools, the vacancies could not be filled. There are many ailing schools in the district where the students suffer badly due to the staff crunch. The posts for subjects including English, Punjabi, Social Science and Computer Science lie vacant in many schools.

Class IV employees hired but await salaries

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann during his visit to PAU during a massive cycle rally had talked about the achievements of the government and one of these was of hiring Class IV staff at the government schools as there was an acute shortage of security guards, gardeners and safai-karamcharis. The schools had started appointing the staff, but for the last three months, they have not been paid their salaries. Similarly, no salaries are paid to the school campus managers, who were recruited to ensure the maintenance of the schools.

Unsafe school buildings

As many school buildings were not safe for holding classes during the flood-like situation, the state government had ordered school closure in the region from July 11 to 16. In Ludhiana, a report on over 200 such schools was submitted where due to the weak buildings, organising classes was not advised.

Primary schools suffer in absence of teachers

The students studying in primary schools, where their foundations are built, continued to suffer as no teachers were recruited.

The Highs
Launch of Schools of Eminence

The Schools of Eminence were launched with much fanfare in Amritsar in the presence of AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and CM Bhagwant Mann, but sincere efforts are yet to be made to make these ‘schools of eminence’ in true spirit. Infrastructure, qualified staff, training for the teachers, state of the art facilities— there are so many things still missing in the Schools of Eminence, a project that was launched back in September.

Major activities held under Legal Literacy Club

Veer Gatha Project, History of April 13, Punjab Nasheyan Virudh, National Legal Service Day, and many such initiatives were taken by the department to make students aware of the region’s history.

Several projects launched:

The department launched other projects including New India Literacy Project, Business Blaster Project, Kala Utsav at block, district and state levels, and Student Police Cadet Programme.

GSSS building collapsed

In August 2023, a portion of Government Senior Secondary School (GSSS), Baddowal, collapsed while some construction work was underway on the campus. One died while two other female staff members sustained injuries in the incident. Four months have passed, and the authorities have not been able to hold anyone responsible nor has any compensation been provided to the family of the deceased.

CBSE changes teaching module

In a major decision taken to benefit the students, the CBSE decided to get done with the percentage and marks this year, in order to focus on the holistic development of the children. The CBSE, in December, decided to change the teaching module by focusing more on the languages. Starting from classes 9 and 10 through 11 and 12, the languages have been made compulsory from the next academic session.

#Aam Aadmi Party AAP #Private Schools