CHANDIGARH: In a bid to keep pace with the changing times, the Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday emphasized the need to offer an opportunity to the students desirous of learning foreign languages as optional subjects in the government schools.
In his address, the Chief Minister asked the School Education department to work out modalities to enable the students to learn the foreign languages like Chinese, Arabic and French as these languages could be instrumental in improving their chances of employability across the globe. He, however, said that though Punjabi is our mother tongue and English is already being taught in schools and now the additional knowledge of foreign languages would help our students to excel in their career. Sharing his experience about our people's resilience and spirit to do something new, Captain Amarinder Singh said long back while travelling in Kapurthala district he noticed a placard in a rural area which pointed towards a location where Italian language was taught. He said this incident reveals that our people especially the youth are keen to learn foreign languages to settle abroad and such initiative of the School Education department would help the students to cherish their aspirations.
Underlining the need to motivate students to take up sports as a character building exercise, the Chief Minister also directed the School Education Minister to explore the possibility of developing playgrounds in the schools as sports not only develops one's overall personality but also imbibe the leadership qualities of self discipline and sportsman spirit amongst them to become ideal citizens of the society. Referring to a famous quote, "The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton", Captain Amarinder Singh said it is popularly ascribed to the Generals who spearheaded the command of this famous battle, were trained in the playgrounds of Eton in U.K. during their early school days.
While congratulating the teachers and the entire staff of School Education department for making Punjab No.1 State across the country in Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2019-20 released by the Government of India, the Chief Minister said it was really a matter of sheer pride that Punjab has achieved this rare feat, which is the outcome of their collective efforts coupled with hard work, dedication and sincerity. He also urged the School Education department especially its Secretary to maintain this position for times to come. He lauded few path-breaking initiatives like online teacher transfer policy, smart schools policy, pre-primary education, digital education and special cadre of teachers working in border areas, which has led to remarkable improvement in the quality of education across the state. He said it was reflective from the fact that nearly 5.6 lakh students have shifted from private to government schools with 29% increase in the enrollment since last four years thus their parents reposing faith in government schools again.