305 from Punjab govt schools qualified in JEE Main, 63% increase from last year: Bains

“This feat marks a moment of immense pride for our entire school education department. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to all our dedicated teachers. The recent JEE Main Phase 1 results showcased an outstanding performance by Punjab government schools, with 305 students cracking the competitive engineering exam. This feat represents a remarkable 63 per cent increase from last year’s 187 qualifiers. Achieving such a significant milestone in just one year is a testament to the transformative power of our ‘Punjab Sikhya Kranti’ initiative. We are committed to further accelerating our progress,” the Education Minister added.

Highlighting the human stories behind the numbers, he shared how Bhavishya, a class 12 non-Medical student from a School of Eminence in Amritsar, secured an impressive 98.182 percentile despite coming from a family with an annual income of Rs 1.5 lakh. His father runs a mobile repair shop and his mother works as a tailor.

“Despite financial constraints, his determination to pursue engineering and uplift his family remained unshaken. With strong school support and disciplined preparation, he achieved outstanding success.”

Son of a labourer father and homemaker mother, Dilkhush Jha, a government school student from Bathinda, scored 95.091 percentile in JEE Mains. Another student from the low-income group, Priyanka Sharma, a Science student from the School of Eminence, Sangrur, secured 96.44 percentile while simultaneously preparing for NEET.

Both Dilkhush and Priyanka benefitted from the state government’s Punjab Academic Coaching for Excellence (PACE) programme, the minister stated.

Narrating another success story, Bains said, “Harmandeep Sharma, a class 12 non-medical student of School of Eminence, Chhajli Sangrur, comes from a family where his father works as an accountant and his mother is a homemaker, with an annual income of around Rs 2.5 lakh. Aspiring to pursue engineering, he prepared entirely through school support without taking any private tuition, relying on teacher guidance and PACE learning resources. His disciplined preparation resulted in an outstanding 98.75 percentile in JEE Main.”

He mentioned several other examples — Palak Kaur from Amritsar coming from a family with an annual income of less than Rs 1,00,000; Kajal from Mohali (annual family income of Rs 80,000); and Pardeep from Mohali whose father works as a labourer in a water cooler — who scored impressively in the examination.

“This is only the first phase result. With the second attempt approaching, I am confident that our final figures will increase substantially and be even more impressive.”

Bains emphasised that no other state government has matched this scale of achievement in government schools. He congratulated all 305 students and their parents, and thanked the teachers for making what he described as a historic day for Punjab’s government school system.

The minister said there has been a visible rise in girl students qualifying for JEE exams, with 134 girl qualifiers this time, reflecting growing gender equity in STEM education across government schools.