Launch of first School of Eminence: After pioneering green, white revolutions, Punjab to start ‘sikhiya kranti’, says Kejriwal

He said there are 20,000 government schools in the state and each one of them will see improvement under the AAP regime in terms of better infrastructure and other facilities. Earlier, government schools had a shortage of benches, children sitting on mats, broken walls, leaking roofs, unclean toilets, no boundary walls, and no security guards.

But all this is going to change now, the AAP supremo said. He added that Rs 800 crore will be spent on 10,000 new state-of-art classroom, Rs 358 crore will be used for construction of boundary walls in over 7,000 schools, another Rs 25 crore is being spent on benches and furniture, Rs 60 crore for washrooms. Kejriwal said people will soon get their children shifted from private schools to government schools.

About the school he inaugurated, he said it has modern infrastructure, gyms, playgrounds, and fully equipped labs. Many government school teachers told me today that they have enrolled their children in this school after taking them out of private schools, he said.

A girl student met me today and said her father is a rickshaw puller and her mother works as a maid. She wants to become a doctor and now this school is going to give wings to her dreams, he said. Students from poor backgrounds too have dreams of becoming doctors, engineers, and lawyers, he said, adding Mann and state’s Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains are making several efforts to help children realise their dreams.

Mann said that a campus manager is being provided in each school along with two security guards in every government secondary schools. “Transport service has been started in the state to facilitate students especially girls. Punjab will be the first state in the country to have WIFI connection in each school. Within six months all schools in the state will be equipped with internet facilities. Very soon Artificial Intelligence (AI) courses will be introduced in government schools across the state. One lakh students will be imparted training in AI. Training will also be given to 10,000 teachers for AI courses,” Mann said, adding that earlier Punjab was known for green revolution and white revolution but now it will be known for education revolution. He added that this revolution should have started 70 years ago but unfortunately it never took place.

Recalling a dialogue from Shah Rukh Khan starrer Jawan, Kejriwal said, “In the movie, Khan says ‘votes should not be given on the basis of religion and caste, but on good education and healthcare’. In this country, only AAP seeks votes on the promise of providing quality education.”
Education minister Harjot Bains lauded Kejriwal for ushering a new era in politics. Bains added that the schools will be a harbinger of a bright future for the students.

He said the AAP had promised to the people of Punjab that government schools would be no less than the private ones. “We had given a guarantee that government schools will be made the best. These ‘Schools of Eminence’ will bring revolution in education,” Bains said. The ‘School of Eminence’ has smart classrooms, modern infrastructure and labs, and playgrounds having facilities for various sports, the statement said. The AAP government plans to have 116 such schools across Punjab and develop them as centres of excellence for the students of Classes 9 to 12.

After inauguration of schools and addressing a public meeting in Amritsar on Wednesday, Kejriwal will be in Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Mohali in the next two days, and will be taking feedback from the industrialists on Punjab government’s plan on formulating new policy. On Thursday, Kejriwal would have townhall meetings with industrialists and entrepreneurs in Amritsar and Jalandhar.

On Friday, he would be meeting the industrialists in Ludhiana and Mohali. “He will be listening to the issues and problems of industrialists in these four major cities and Mann will also accompany him. The issues that the industrialists would raise would be addressed in AAP government’s industrial policy,” a source said.

The visit is said to hold political significance as it is ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. It is important for Punjab as both AAP and Congress, who have come together at national level on Opposition bloc INDIA platform, the state units of both the parties are averse to the alliance.
While most of the Punjab Congress leaders except former PPCC chief Navjot Sidhu and Ludhiana MP Ravneet Bittu have taken a stand against the alliance in Punjab, Mann has also stated that Punjab AAP was capable of contesting elections alone, it knows how to contest and how to win. In the backdrop of these developments, Kejriwal’s meetings with Mann and other leaders over his three day stay in Punjab may have a bearing on the future of alliance of these parties in Punjab.