As many as 600 schools in Punjab either have no teacher or have only one teacher, Punjab School Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains said on Wednesday.
Responding to a query during the Question Hour in the Punjab Assembly on Wednesday, Bains said before the Aam Aadmi Party came to power in the state on 16 March 2022, there were over 3,500 schools in the state with either no teacher or only one teacher, which has now come down to about 600.
He said Punjab aims to become the first state where no school lacks teachers or have only one teacher by 31 March, 2024. Regarding finances, Minister Bains stressed that Rs 323 crore were allocated for constructing boundary walls, with Rs 290 Crore already expended.
The minister provided additional details, including the completion of 1300 kilometer (km) of boundary walls in 7654 schools and the construction of 10,000 new rooms. Punjab leads the country in deploying security personnel to schools, and the installation of Wi-Fi systems in all schools is projected by March 31, 2024, the minister added.