Chandigarh: Education Minister of Punjab S. Presenting the report card of four and a half years of school education, Harjot Singh Bains said that the government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has made comprehensive changes in the education structure of the state with an investment of about Rs 2,300 crore. He claimed that in the NITI Aayog report for the year 2026-27, Punjab has achieved the leading position in the field of school education, leaving Kerala behind.
Presenting the progress report during the press conference held at Punjab Bhawan, the Education Minister said that from the year 2022 till now, 3.64 lakh students have left private schools and enrolled in government schools. He called this a proof of people's growing confidence in government schools and said that since the formation of the Aam Aadmi Party government in March 2022, continuous efforts have been made to strengthen the education system.
Trying to live up to people's trust
Referring to the election promises of the Aam Aadmi Party, Harjot Singh Bains said that the party's national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann had visited every village and city of Punjab and sought an opportunity to change the face of government schools. He said that the people of Punjab reposed their trust in the party by giving them 92 seats and the government is continuously working to live up to that trust.
Education system was found in dilapidated condition in 2022
The Education Minister said that at the time of taking over the government in the year 2022, the education system of the state was in a very poor condition. Many schools did not even have boundary walls, while more than 5,000 schools did not have usable toilets. He said that about 4 lakh children were forced to study sitting on the floor, about 500 schools did not have drinking water facilities and students received textbooks with a delay of five months.
Infrastructure strengthened with Rs 2,300 crore
Harjot Singh Bains said Rs 2,300 crore has been spent on school infrastructure in the last four and a half years. This is an average investment of around Rs 15 lakh per school. He said that during this period, 13,920 new toilets were built, due to which now usable toilets are available in all the schools of the state. 2 lakh benches have also been provided to save children from sitting on the floor.
New classrooms, labs and digital facilities
According to the Education Minister, more than 9,000 new classrooms and labs have been built in the state. Along with this, more than 10,000 interactive panels have been installed in the classrooms. He informed that 5,012 schools have been upgraded with advanced computer labs. Now all the government schools of Punjab are equipped with Wi-Fi facility and boundary wall of 99.9 percent schools has been completed.
Big expansion in sports facilities also
The Education Minister said that such sports facilities are now being provided in government schools, which earlier were available only in private schools. These include facilities like swimming pool, shooting range, basketball and tennis courts, Kabaddi mat, wrestling and boxing ring.
Teachers received international level training
The government started special training programs to enhance the capacity of teachers. Under this, principals were sent to Singapore, primary teachers to Finland and head teachers to IIM Ahmedabad for training.
Security and maintenance arrangements in schools
Harjot Singh Bains said that ex-servicemen have been deployed as campus managers in all senior secondary schools. Besides this, two security guards have been appointed in every senior secondary school with more than 500 students. Schools are also being given a monthly cleaning fund ranging from Rs 3,000 to Rs 50,000 depending on the number of students.
Better performance in competitive exams
Referring to the educational achievements, the Education Minister said that in the last four years, 786 students of government schools have passed JEE and 2,166 students have passed NEET examination. He said that the number of students passing NEET-UG from government schools was only 80 in the year 2021, which increased to 882 in the year 2026. 437 students passed the examination in the year 2024, 847 in the year 2025 and 882 in the year 2026. Apart from this, 361 students cleared JEE Main and 64 students cleared JEE Advanced.
3.64 lakh students are inclined towards government schools
The Education Minister said that the migration of 3.64 lakh students from private schools to government schools from the year 2022 till now is one of the biggest achievements. He described this as a clear sign of public's increasing confidence in government schools.
Punjab leads in NITI Aayog's report
Harjot Singh Bains said that based on the results of classroom learning, Punjab has achieved the top position in the field of school education in the NITI Aayog report for the year 2026-27 and has left Kerala behind.
New Initiatives in AI Education and Business Blasters
The Education Minister informed that Punjab has become the first state to introduce Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a main subject from class 1 to 12.
He said that under the Business Blasters programme, 2.30 lakh students were given practical experience of entrepreneurship. The government provided seed money of Rs 29 crore under this scheme and the students earned a profit of about Rs 3 crore.
Special school for drop out students
The government has opened 40 special skill education schools to re-integrate the students who left school after class 10th into the education system.
Efforts to reduce the financial burden on parents
The Education Minister said that the increasing cost of education is a big challenge for families. Keeping this in mind, the Punjab government has limited the annual fee increase of schools to a maximum of 5 percent.
Free bus service for government schools
The government has also started free bus service for students of government schools. More than 15,000 students from hundreds of schools are benefiting from this every day.
Education reform work continued despite floods
Harjot Singh Bains said that more than 7,000 schools in Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Ropar, Ferozepur and Fazilka districts were affected by the severe floods in the years 2023 and 2025.
Despite this, the government continued the work of education reform. With the help of the World Bank, 500 badly damaged schools are being repaired, most of which is expected to be completed in the next six months.
Aim to reach every school
The Education Minister said that for him education is not just a departmental responsibility but a mission. He said that till now he has personally visited more than 2,000 schools and visited every district of the state and took stock of the condition of the schools.
He said that there are about 20,000 schools in Punjab and his aim is that in the next two years Punjab should become the first state where it can proudly say that there is no lack of any basic facility in government schools. According to him, education is one of the biggest priorities for the Punjab government.