On the back foot after nearly 40% students failed in Class 10 examination of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) this year, the State government has swung into action to improve the standard of education by initiating to prepare a blueprint.
AAP demand
The opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has asked Congress leaders to visit schools in villages to understand the problems instead of preparing ‘blueprint’ sitting in ‘air-conditioned’ rooms.
A day after the PSEB declared Class 10 results, in which 57.50% students have passed, Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh expressed concern over the ‘poor’ result and issued instructions to Education Minister Aruna Chaudhary to prepare a blueprint for raising the standards of education.
“The fact that only 24 students from government schools had made it to the merit list was a serious cause for concern,” said Capt. Singh, putting the blame for the poor performance on the Education Department.
A total of 3.30 lakh students had appeared for the exams, of whom 1.90 lakh passed. While 45,734 students failed, 94,271 students re-appeared.
The AAP has criticised the previous Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janta Party combine and the present Congress government for the situation.
Leader of the Opposition H.S. Phoolka told The Hindu: “If the Congress government is serious about improving the quality of education then the Chief Minsiter along with his Ministers should visit schools in villages to understand the problems.”
Mr. Phoolka said sitting in air-conditioned rooms and preparing blueprint would not serve any purpose.
Lack of concern
“It is a matter of shame that the level of school education has gone so low in the State. Lack of concern in government departments is the root cause of the failed education system,” he said.
The need of the hour is to maintain healthy student-teacher ratio in government schools,” the leader of Opposition added.