Punjab education department is working hard to take the level of Punjab primary and secondary education at par.
In July , 2017 the Directorate of School Education, Punjab had undertaken a project ‘Padho Punjab, Padhao Punjab,’ which aims at improving the basic skills of students with enhancing their concepts through various interactive activities.
Since then, the education department of Punjab government has been updating the existing educational system. In recent times the primary schools are under-development to be more focused on English subject.
The government move, official say, includes training for teachers under the Interactive English Language Teaching for Students (IELTS) to prepare students for competitive exams and better job opportunities.
“This programme was rolled out last year in all senior secondary schools and the response was very encouraging. From the next academic session, it will be extended from class 9th-12th. Under the programme, English teachers are being given tips on soft skills, phonetic and language skills,” says Bindu Gulati, Assistant Director, State Council for Researching and Education Centre (SCREC).
The elementary government schools falling under small villages of Jalandher, Patiala, Ludhiana and other parts of Punjab are regularly putting more emphasis on English subject to let the students practice the language more often.
Apart from English language, Punjab government has also introduced e-learning under ‘Padho Punjab’ project, where the students will be taught through animated audio-visual content.
Till last year only few of the chapters were multimedia but now most of the syllabus is going to be e-content. It has been introduced for the classes from Ist-Vth in all three languages English, Hindi and Punjabi.
The initiative is to be implemented in 831 government elementary schools in entire state of Punjab. “The digital way of learning will help children learn in a better way,” says DEO Jugraj Singh.
Though, after the launch of ‘Padho Punjab, Padhao Punjab’ in 2018, the project encountered a lot of criticism initially for its abrupt system. The teachers of Punjab government schools retaliated government for taking number of academic tests apart from annual exams, which increased unnecessary burden on the students.
Later on the issue was sorted and now the schools are welcoming the new curricular activities with open hands.