Drop 'govt' from govt schools to attract students: Punjab panel

A Punjab Vidhan Sabha committee has hit upon a novel idea to improve the image of the government schools in the state. It has recommended that the word “government” be removed from the name of state-run schools and that they instead be named after freedom fighters, martyrs and renowned personalities.

The Committee on Subordinate Legislation, comprising 12 MLAs from Congress, SAD and AAP, on Wednesday tabled a report in the Assembly in which the recommendation was made. The committee had scrutinsed the The Punjab Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2011.

The committee was of the view that the level of education in government schools in the state had gone so low that even average families felt an “insult” in sending their wards to government schools.  “The committee, therefore, desired that the department may change the names of government schools after the names of freedom fighters and renowned personalities…,” the report states.

The committee has also recommended that only those persons be made eligible for government jobs who have studied in government schools for at least five years before completing their 10+2 level of education.

The education department agreed with the recommendation and said that initially, special weightage would have to be given to such individuals for government jobs but gradually it could be made an eligibility criteria.

In an “observation”, the committee suggested that “each and everyone who is being paid even a single rupee from state exchequer, including elected representatives, government servants, contractors etc be compulsorily bound to get their children educated in government schools at least for three years (from primary to middle level)”.

The committee, which is of the view that this will raise the quality of education in government schools, has cited a 2015 judgment of Allahabad High Court in this regard.
News Source (Indian Express)