School edu dept to get ₹80 crore

: Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday directed the finance department to release ₹80 crore for the school education department, reiterating his willingness to slash the budget of other departments to make funds available for the education sector.

The chief minister was chairing a meeting of the ‘expert group of teachers’ comprising principals, headmasters and administrators of schools whose students had performed well in the board exams. He had convened the meeting to seek their suggestions on “uplifting the standards” of school education.

The expert group, led by Kiranjeet Kaur, principal, Government Senior Secondary School, Patiala, had earlier submitted its recommendations to the education minister.

During discussions on the various suggestions and inputs received from the group, the CM reiterated his stand that paucity of funds would not be allowed to come in the way of overhauling the state’s education system. He underlined need to strengthen the district institutes of education and training (DIETs), by providing them the best trainers adept in the latest techniques.

Amarinder said, if required, trainer-teachers should be given exposure to the best private schools in the state. He also directed the education department to complete the process of setting up new DIETs in the remaining five districts by the year-end. In response to a request by some teachers, he said he will impress upon the Centre to review the no-retention policy, whereby all students from Class 1 to Class 9 are promoted.