Badal for qualitative change in education system

Khatkar Kalan (Punjab), Nov 2 (UNI) Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today stressed the need for bringing a qualitiative change in the education system in the state.

The Chief Minister formally launched the Adarsh School scheme from Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, in Nawanshahr district.

Addressing a gathering at Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Adarsh School on the occasion, he declared that the whole school education infrastructure and curriculum would be given a 'modern touch' within the next three and half years.

Quoting from the letter of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh from jail, Mr Badal said that "an independent India means an educated India. Illiteracy is the worst from of slavery. Not until every child in the country has received model education, can the country be called free".

Stressing the need to revolutionize the educational system in the state, he pointed out that conventional education alone would not help youth in securing better jobs.

Asserting that vocationalization of the education was the need of hour, he said the State Government had embarked on an ambitious programme to open skill development centers throughout the state to impart technical training to the youth.

The Chief Minister bemoaned that even after 60 years of independence the educational system could not be streamlined due to the slackness on the part of both state governments and the Centre.

"Had we been serious on this count the present education set up would not have deteriorated to this extent", he said.

Mr Badal blamed the previous government for the gross neglect and utter collapse of the education system in the state.

He said that Punjab was the first state to introduce the concept of Adarsh School aimed to impart quality education to the poor and intelligent students.

He said that the basic objective of this novel scheme was to impart education to the underprivileged at par with the students from affluent strata of society.

Mr Badal said that the State Government had made a provision of Rs 75 crore for this scheme in the current annual plan. He said that 17,000 new teachers would be recruited soon to fill up the vacant posts in the schools.

Coming down heavily on Punjab congress President Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, he said that Mrs Bhattal's accusations of political vendetta were merely gimmicks and a manifestation of frustration and dejection.

UNI