Three years of Captain Amarinder Singh govt in Punjab: The Learning Curve

What he failed to mention is that majority of these ‘Smart Schools’ were made with the contribution of the locals and NRIs.

And then in many other schools which aren’t ‘Smart’ yet, kids sit outside in open either because buildings are unsafe or there aren’t enough classrooms. There are around 19,200 government schools in Punjab.

The Kejriwal government in Delhi is credited with constructing over 20,000 new classrooms in existing schools, and 25 new school buildings with world-class sports facilities.

School education, which was sorely neglected during the previous two tenures of the SAD-BJP government, leading to a steep fall in enrollment, learning outcome levels and infrastructure, has been on an upswing. But the recent claims of the Captain government stretch reality a tad too much.

At a government pre-primary class in Punjab, kids sit on the rags because there isn’t provision of furniture for them. (Express Photo)

Most of the 5,500 ‘Smart Schools’ are not fully government-funded (with no fixed and dedicated budgetary allocation for the project since its inception in 2017 after Congress came to power) and have been developed with donations from NRIs, businessmen and even teachers. The Captain government has also come under fire for inflating Class X and XII board result pass percentages by using Marks Moderation Policy (MMP) and keeping students in dark over their real performance.

This year, Education Secretary Krishan Kumar’s ‘Mission Shat Pratishat’ (Mission 100 per cent), to bring ‘100 per cent results’ in all classes, is leading to heartburn among teachers who are calling it a pressure tactic. Some claim that worried about their Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs), some are doling out full marks in practicals and internal evaluations.

Further, beginning this year, the pass formula has been tweaked by the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) with a mere 20 per cent marks required in written exams (with an overall aggregate of 33 per cent, including practicals and internal CCE in each subject), to clear the boards for class V, VIII and X (unlike the minimum 33 per cent in written exam as required earlier).

The criteria for admission to government-run Meritorious Senior Secondary Schools has also been changed and those scoring 55 per cent in Class X board exams, are also eligible to apply, unlike the minimum 80 per cent required earlier.

The enrollment in government schools, despite pre-primary classes started in 2017, is still in recovery mode and unemployed teachers continue to protest. Also, many of these kindergartens have been started without any new classrooms, teachers and other facilities.

At a government primary school in district Mansa, children sit out in open due to shortage of classrooms. (Express Photo)

Government Smart Schools

In 2019, the government claimed to have converted 2,524 (nearly 13 per cent of 19,200 government schools in Punjab) into ‘Smart Schools’ of which just 261 received government funds of Rs 29.60 crore. A year later, the number of ‘Smart Schools’ has shot up to 5,500 but most are self-made. The Education Department has no figures on how many of these are fully government funded.

A spokesperson said, “Some of these are partially government funded with contributions from both government and community, including NRIs, teachers, panchayats etc.” It was only in September 2019, that School Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla unveiled Smart School Policy, in which he promised to give 50 per cent funding for converting government schools into Smart Schools. The rest has to come from the community. Though some funds were released for projectors, educational parks, LED screens, CCTV cameras, green boards etc, the Smart School project remains largely a community effort.

The definition and concept of ‘Smart Schools’ too has come under the scanner. “There are no green boards or projectors in many, you can’t call a school smart just by painting walls with alphabets and numbers,” fumed a teacher.

Advocate HC Arora, who moved a complaint in this regard, says, “There is no account of from where money is being spent on Smart Schools. Even donations are not being recorded in any account. Teachers are being forced to arrange or pay from their own pockets.”

The government claims it has spent Rs 23.14 crore to provide ‘colorful benches’ in schools, but shortage of benches continues. Under school electrification programme, government has planned to install 10 KW solar power panels in 880 senior secondary Smart Schools (259 in phase I and 621 in phase II), funds for which are yet to be released.

More than 2,300 schools also offer optional English medium now, claims government. But on the ground, these schools do not have teachers who can teach in English and students end up opting for Punjabi medium only.

At a government primary school in Mansa, primary section children study in open because there aren’t enough classrooms. (Express Photo)

Pre-primary classes

It was in 2017 that Punjab started enrolling kids aged 3 to 5 in pre-primary classes and claimed to have become the first state in the country to start kindergarten in government schools.

However, three years later, tiny tots are being forced to sit on the floor. “We have to make pre-primary kids still on floor or sometimes even outside because there is no space or benches. They sit on rags. There are seven classes but only four classrooms,” says Darshan Singh, a teacher from government primary school, Birewala Dogra of Mansa.

However, recently each primary school was issued three grants — Rs 19,000 for buying swings, Rs 5,000 for toys/learning aids and Rs 2,500 for Building and Learning Aids (BALA) to get classrooms painted with poems, alphabets etc.

Manmohan Singh, head teacher at Jahangirpura village, Ludhiana, said, “Our school building in unsafe so half the students sit in a gurdwara and half in a dharamshala nearby. Pre-primary are adjusted wherever there is space.” Government though has promised that it will be providing colorful chairs and tables for pre-primary now. “The supply has already started in some schools,” said an official.

As on February 28, 2020, a total of 1.27 lakh boys and 1.25 lakh girls were enrolled in pre-primary totaling 2.52 lakh kids.

Education budget

This year, finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal proposed Rs 12,488 crore for ‘promotion of school and higher education’ for 2020-21, which he said was 8 per cent of total budget expenditure. Also, he announced free education for all students up to class XII, a facility enjoyed only by girls earlier with boys getting free education till class VIII.

The new promises for this year include Rs 75 crore for maintenance of school buildings, Rs 10 crore for transportation, Rs 100 crore for 4,150 new classrooms, and Rs 25 crore for water harvesting systems in all government senior secondary schools. A sum of Rs 100 crore for converting more schools into smart schools and digital education has also been proposed to convert ‘all 19,200 government schools into Smart Schools’.

But a new residential school up to class XII for special children (with speech or hearing disabilities) announced in last year’s budget is yet to see light of the day.

Enrollment: Still in recovery mode

In 2013-14, a total of 26.41 lakh children were enrolled in government schools of Punjab, but ever since the number has been slipping.

As per the latest data by the Education Department, this number stands at 23.96 lakh children (including 2.52 lakh in pre-primary), indicating the loss of at least 2 lakh students in government schools of Punjab since 2013-14. Whereas more than 32 lakh children are enrolled in private schools in Punjab, says the data.

Marks moderation

Despite the guidelines of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to not inflate results using Marks Moderation Policy (MMP), the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) inflated class X and XII pass percentages for 2018 and 2019. The class X pass percentages were inflated from 46.29 percent to 62.10 percent in 2018 and from 76.49 percent to 85.66 per cent in 2019. Similarly, for class XII it was inflated from 56.13 percent to 65.97 per cent in 2018 and from 80.58 per cent to 84.33 per cent in 2019. PSEB doled out ‘one per cent grace plus five extra marks’ to class XII students, revealed an RTI reply. And then the Congress government this year claimed that ‘for the first time, government schools in Punjab performed better than private schools in board exams.’

School education policy

A committee under the chairmanship of Dr B S Ghuman, vice-chancellor of Punjabi University, Patiala, was constituted by the CM in 2018 to frame a school education policy for Punjab but after missing several deadlines, it is yet to submit the final draft. Many schools still do not have clean, safe drinking water provision and children are drinking water from taps while in smart schools, RO systems have been installed with voluntary donations.

Sanitary napkins & karate training

Girls from class VI to XII were provided with free sanitary napkins every month, a project which was announced in 2018-19 budget proposal by FM with an allocation of Rs 10 crore but was implemented only in 2019. This year, Rs 13 crore has been proposed for sanitary napkins. To provide karate training (for self-defense) to all girls in government schools, the education department is training all women teachers below the age of 50 in karate. A total of 261 female teachers were trained last year.

Teachers’ protests

Around 7,600 teachers belonging to three educational schemes, namely, Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS), Special Trainer Resource (STR) and Alternative Innovative Education (AIE) are demanding regularisation as elementary cadre teachers. Currently, they are working on a meager salary of Rs 5,000 a month (B.Ed pass) and Rs 2,500 a month (without B.Ed). Meanwhile, ETT (Elementary Teachers Training) and TET (Teachers Eligibility Test) Pass Berozgaar Teachers Union are also protesting claiming that more than 14,000 ETT-TET pass teachers are unemployed and government has failed to recruit them.

Government, meanwhile, claims that 700 posts of principals have been filled through promotions; 2,575 teachers have been promoted in master cadre. It further says that 3,582 new master cadre recruitments have been done, of which many have been posted in border districts such as Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur to fill vacant posts, and 154 principals, 672 headmasters and 1,558 head teachers have been newly recruited. It also says that 2,182 posts for master cadre and 1,664 for ETT teachers have been advertised.

Textbooks, uniforms in time; other initiatives

This year, the government school children got free textbooks and uniforms in time, which were delayed almost every year in the past. Other initiatives included e-content for class I to X, biometric attendance for teachers, online transfer policy for teachers, extra classes under ‘Mission Shat Pratishat’ for board exams preparation, activity-based learning under ‘Padho Punjab, Padhao Punjab’, besides maths and science fairs. Pustak Library Langars have been launched to improve reading habits, and Ajj Da Shabd (Word of the day) to improve vocabulary. Summer camps were held in 6,200 schools. Teachers were treated to ‘Fit Guru’ programme. New apps include ‘Darpan’ for rating schools. Project ‘Mashaal’ is an online portal where students can post their queries and get counselling for career as well as personal issues.

INTERVIEW: Vijay Inder Singla

‘Spending on schools has increased ten fold’

Punjab School Edu Minister tells The Indian Express that the state government is actively working to provide digital infrastructure in schools

Most of the 5,500 government schools have been transformed into Smart Schools using donations. Your take.

A proper development plan is made before a school is converted into Smart School. Yes, most of the schools have some contribution from community but they are partially funded by the government. We have released funds for several facilities such as CCTVs, educational parks, projectors, LED screens etc. Our spending on schools has increased ten fold. We have also tied up with ASER to provide digital education infrastructure in schools.

What is the amount spent by state government on Smart Schools in the past three years?

Expenditure is being done under different components such as parks, LEDs, projectors, building classrooms, greenboards etc. Just by painting a building in a colourful way, a school doesn’t become ‘Smart’. There are some Smart Schools which are fully government funded and others are partial. We need to compile exact figure of how much government has spent on Smart Schools. Rs 100 crore has been proposed for these schools in this year’s budget.

Pre-primary classes have been started but there is no space in primary schools to accommodate kids or furniture. They are sitting on the floor.

We have started pre-primary only in those primary schools where space was available. We have proposed 1,600 new classrooms to be constructed under NABARD funds.

Enrollment in government schools continues to be low, despite intensive drives.

We have enrolled 2.70 lakh new kids in pre-primary recently. Enrollment in govt schools had drastically declined during SAD-BJP government and we have filled the backlog they left. Now, it is on the path of recovery.

TET and B.Ed unemployed teachers are still protesting.

We have already advertised 2,000 posts for recruitment and 2,000 more will be advertised soon, but in no case will we compromise the quality of teachers to be hired. If they want that those who did not even secure 50 per cent marks in their graduation should be hired to teach kids, it won’t be done. Recruitment will be on the basis of merit.

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Opposition view

‘Hollow claims by Capt govt’

“Captain Amarinder Singh who promised Ghar Ghar Rozgar (a job in each household) ordered brutal thrashing of unemployed teachers who were just asking for jobs which is their right. This government has also failed to implement Post Matric Scholarship Scheme leaving thousands of SC/ST students in the lurch. Captain promised free education for girls till PhD level and there is no word on it. So-called government Smart Schools are being developed using community funds and donations without government spending. In fact, teachers are being forced and harassed to arrange funds for Smart Schools or give from their own salaries, so that the government can take its credit. Decorating walls of a school does not make it smart, there are no teachers to educate kids. In Jagraon alone, there are 15 single teacher schools as per written reply to my query in Vidhan Sabha. Captain should stop comparing Punjab’s education with AAP’s Delhi model because in Delhi, the government did entire work and then people spoke about it. Here it is vice-versa.”

— Sarvjit Kaur Manuke, Deputy Leader of Opposition (worked as a private school teacher for 15 years)

‘Cong finished Meritorious Schools project’

“Congress government has finished the Meritorious Schools project in Punjab which we started for bright students from financially weak families. This government did not support the project just because of political rivalry and the purpose of starting those schools now stands defeated. There is constant tension between teachers and administration since this government has taken over because teachers are literally being terrorised to implement projects such as Smart Schools and arrange funds on their own. They are being pressurised to give results under Padho Punjab so that government can take credit. They started pre-primary without hiring teachers and English medium without hiring English teachers. They inflated marks to improve class X and XII results and ultimately students suffer. Students scoring 80 per cent in class X PSEB board are failing to score 50 per cent in entrance exam of meritorious schools. This says it all.”

— Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, SAD leader, former state education minister