Punjab Sikhya Kranti: Govt clears first tranche of Rs 12.25 cr to reimburse schools for plaques, ribbon-cutting events
The Punjab Education Department has approved the first tranche of Rs 12.25 crore that the state government schools have been spending on ribbon cutting ceremonies, making arrangements to welcome ministers or MLAs or VIPs, and installing inauguration plaques since April 7 this year, under the AAP's school education glitz campaign 'Punjab Sikhya Kranti'.
The 54-day long drive, from April 7 to May 31, was mired in controversies from Day 1 as the Punjab government ordered school teachers to get new plaques installed, and ribbon-cutting ceremonies attended by local MLAs or ministers for even minor projects — from repaired toilets and boundary walls to classrooms and laboratories.
Multiple plaques or stones were installed in a school, prompting the opposition parties to dub 'Punjab Sikhya Kranti' as 'Udghatan and Stone Kranti'.
The Indian Express was the first to report how the Punjab government planned to install plaques for at least 25,000 big or small works, with several schools even installing five to six for minor works, and the inauguration drive alone was estimated at nearly Rs 20 crore.
The latest letter by School Education (Elementary) Director Harkirat Kaur, addressed to Punjab district education officers (DEOs), the first tranche of Rs 12.25 crore has been approved for Sikhya Kranti programmes held in schools since April 7. It says that Rs 6.20 crore of the total amount was being allotted to primary schools, and Rs 5.71 crore for middle/high and senior secondary schools, where the inaugurations were held.
Notably, the amount spent by schools on ribbon-cutting ceremonies and welcoming politicians will be counted under the head of 'conferences, workshops, seminars, and tours', it read.
According to the district-wise allocation, the maximum amounts — Rs 59.80 lakh for primary schools, and Rs 55.80 lakh for middle/high or senior secondary schools — have been allocated to Amritsar district, indicating that the maximum number of inaugurations took place there.
In Ludhiana, Rs 30.20 lakh have been allocated for primary schools, and Rs 23.55 lakh for middle/high and secondary schools. In Jalandhar, Rs 40.15 lakh have been sanctioned for primary schools and Rs 41.20 lakh for higher schools.
The initial order — ahead of the drive's commencement — had mentioned that schools will be given Rs 5,000 for each granite plaque and for inauguration ceremony arrangements such as sound system, chairs, tent, and snacks, among others, with each school paying category wise — Rs 5,000 (primary/middle schools), Rs 10,000 (high schools), and Rs 20,000 (senior secondary schools).
With over 25,000 works, planned to be inaugurated in over 12,000 schools, the total budget of the drive was estimated at nearly Rs 20 crore. However, since the government did not release funds in advance, teachers had paid from their pockets to make arrangements and install the plaques.
Each plaque had to carry the name of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains.
Punjab Education Secretary Anindita Mitra said: 'This is the first instalment. We shall be providing a budget for all inaugurations as per the amounts fixed in the letter initially. The remaining amount will also be issued in a few days.'
The Punjab Sikhya Kranti drive was launched by the AAP government to inaugurate at least 25,000 big/small development works in over 12,000 Punjab government schools, with initial orders to install separate plaques for even minor repair works.
However, as soon as the drive commenced on April 7 as well as the photos of plaques crediting Mann and Bains for repaired toilets or boundary walls went viral, inviting flak, another fresh order was issued that 'teachers should not get plaques installed for toilets'.
The government had also faced backlash from the opposition parties including Congress, BJP, and SAD who dubbed it as 'Udghatan and Ribbon-Cutting Kranti'.
From Barnala to Pathankot, the plaques installed for repaired toilets went viral. Then, a plaque was installed covering the national anthem painted on a wall in a school in Amritsar district.
In Ludhiana, MLA Madan Lal Bagga inaugurated repaired toilets where curtains were installed to hide incomplete works, while in Bathinda district's Maur, villagers did not allow the local MLA to inaugurate a boundary wall, alleging it was 'constructed four years ago'.
Justifying the installation of plaques, Bains had said: 'Why should we not put them? They are the symbols of failures of the previous governments. They are not just name plates or plaques, they are a reminder of the failure of Congress and Akali-BJP governments in Punjab.'
Divya Goyal is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Punjab.
Her interest lies in exploring both news and feature stories, with an effort to reflect human interest at the heart of each piece. She writes on gender issues, education, politics, Sikh diaspora, heritage, the Partition among other subjects. She has also extensively covered issues of minority communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She also explores the legacy of India's partition and distinct stories from both West and East Punjab.
She is a gold medalist from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, the most revered government institute for media studies in India, from where she pursued English Journalism (Print). Her research work on 'Role of micro-blogging platform Twitter in content generation in newspapers' had won accolades at IIMC.
She had started her career in print journalism with Hindustan Times before switching to The Indian Express in 2012.
Her investigative report in 2019 on gender disparity while treating women drug addicts in Punjab won her the Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity in 2020. She won another Laadli for her ground report on the struggle of two girls who ride a boat to reach their school in the border village of Punjab.
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