Punjab CM okays online government teacher transfer policy from next session
Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday approved a policy for online transfer of government teachers from the next academic session, on the lines of a similar system existing in several other states, including neighbouring Haryana. The decision, taken by the Chief Minister at an Education Department review meeting here, will facilitate transfer of school teachers, while making the process more transparent, according to an official spokesperson. The Chief Minister directed the Additional Chief Secretary (School Education) to discuss the modalities of the new transfer policy, which will categorize the schools into five zones, with his Principal Secretary. The Chief Minister also suggested posting of teachers, especially in primary schools, in their villages or surrounding areas to enable them to discharged their duties with dedication and honesty. The Chief Minister further asked the Principal Secretary Finance to make a special provision in the forthcoming budget to ensure proper infrastructure in terms of electricity, furniture, toilets and playgrounds for the students in all government schools in the state. He directed the Additional Chief Secretary (School Education) to work out the estimated expenditure for raising the necessary demand with the Finance department in this regard. In another directive, the Chief Minister asked the officials concerned to negotiate the best rates with telecom companies for providing Wi-Fi facility in schools, as promised by the Congress in its poll manifesto. He directed the officials to work out the modalities for the installation of Wi-Fi hotspots in computer labs for the benefit of students in government schools. At the meeting, the Chief Minister also directed the inclusion of foreign languages as optional subject in the school curriculum from class X onwards to enable students to complete globally. He urged the school education department to include languages such as Chinese, Japanese, French and German as optional subjects to enable gainful employment of students not just within the country but globally too. Expressing concern over the deteriorating standards of English teaching in schools, Captain Amarinder asked the English departments of the three state universities to prepare master trainers who could further train other English teachers from the primary to the higher secondary level to impart quality education to students. This, he said, would help improve the standard of English teaching and learning in the state, empowering the students to meet global communication needs. The Chief Minister also suggested introduction of pre-nursery and nursery classes in government schools, on the Haryana pattern, to enable the development of learning skills, especially English, among the tiny tots and empower them for onward education. Expressing dismay over the low intake of Punjabi youth in the armed forces on all India basis due to their poor academic performance, Captain Amarinder underlined the need to raise the level of education in the state on priority. Captain Amarinder also directed Additional Chief Secretary (School Education) to sort out the issue of six problematic Model Schools being run in Public Private Partnership mode by the FCS Software Solutions before the start of next academic session on priority. Prominent amongst those who attended the meeting were Education Minister Aruna Chaudhary, Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary (School Education) G. Vajralingam, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Tejveer Singh, Media Advisor to Chief Minister Raveen Thukral, Principal Secretary Finance Anirudh Tiwari and Director General School Education Pardeep Sabharwal. —PTC News
