Days after Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit asked the state government to explain the criteria for sending school principals to Singapore, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday said that merit was the sole criteria for selection of these principals of government schools for the training.
Flagging off the second batch of teachers for training to Singapore today, the CM said that it is a matter of great pride and satisfaction that most of these teachers are state or national awardees and have carved a niche for themselves in the field of education. He said the sole criteria to choose these teachers is merit so as to ensure that they play a vanguard role in education reform.
Mann said that agreement has already been signed with them to depute them in any school across the state after the training. He said the state is on the threshold of complete transformation of the education sector to benefit the students by carving out their bright future.
The CM said during the training these teachers will be equipped with modern teaching practices prevalent abroad. He said after their return these teachers will share the practices with students and their colleagues thereby ensuring that students get acquainted with the pattern of study on foreign shores.
Mann said this will enable the students of the state to compete with their peers educated abroad. He said this is a revolutionary step which will rejuvenate the entire education system of the state for the well being of students.
The CM said it is a proud moment for him as these teachers will act as agents of change in the education sector in the coming times. Mann expressed hope that this will bring the much needed qualitative change in the education system of the state by benefitting the students.
Mann said the single aim of all these efforts is to reverse the trend of brain drain by making youth an active partner of socio- economic growth of the state. He said Punjabi youth has huge potential due to which world acclaimed IT companies and Universities want to ink knowledge sharing agreements with the state.
Mann said as a matter of fact Punjab has emerged as a symbol of quality education across the country. He said the visit to Singapore will upgrade the professional knowledge and expertise of the teachers in the field of education.
The CM said this first of its kind initiative by the state government is part of the state scheme for teachers’ foreign training cleared by Cabinet recently and aims at ensuring that the professional skills of the teaching fraternity is enhanced, so that they can deliver the best education to the students. Mann said the sole aim of this step is to ensure quality education to the students of the government schools.