Govt committed to impart hi-tech education in Punjab: Badal

Mohali, Jul 3: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal reiterated his Government's firm commitment to impart hi-tech quality education to students at par excellence with renowned educational institutions.

Presiding over a function to launch the scholarship scheme for meritorious students of the Continental Institute of International Studies (CIIS) at its campus here yesterday, he expressed concern over the deterioration in the educational system in the country.

It was a high time to make concerted efforts to revamp the entire system according to the emerging trends worldwide, he added.

He said the state government had already launched a scheme to open 'Adarsh Schools' throughout the state to provide quality education free of cost to economically poor and bright students.

Admitting that there was a wide gulf between the standards of rural and urban education, he said this gap was now being narrowed down by initiating measures aimed at strengthening the base of school education in the rural sector.

The Chief Minister said that government senior secondary schools were being provided with sound infrastructure in terms of building, laboratories and well qualified staff in the science stream at a cost of Rs 142 crore. The scheme would enable the students to get admissions in medical and technical courses and has yielded positive results as many students with rural background had fared better this time by securing more seats in the institutions of higher learning as compared to last year.

Mr Badal said that Punjab had now one of the best networks of technical education institutions in the country but the quality of students seeking admissions was poor at the entry level.

He asked the management of the premier technical, engineering and management institutions to adopt and run few 10+2 schools within their vicinity to impart better quality of education.

Mr Avinash Rai Khanna, MP from Hoshiarpur, also addressed the fucntion.

UNI