City’s govt schools admit 10k new students in a day

Ludhiana: City’s government schools on Friday enrolled around 10,154 new students in a single day, nearly missing the 11,111 admissions target set by the education department.
Punjab education minister Harjot Singh Bains had asked government schools across state to admit over 1 lakh new students in a single day by asking every teacher, non-teaching staff memebers and mid-day meal worker to bring in at least one new enrolment. Following his instructions, the district education department had set a target of 11,111 new admissions, and Ludhiana met over 91% of this target by admitting 10,154 new students in government schools on Friday.
These included 4,056 new admissions to Class I, 3,510 admissions to primary classes from II to V, 195 admissions to classes VI to VIII, 627 to classes IX and X, and 1,766 to classes XI and XII.
Among the 19 educational blocks present in district, Ludhiana-I block achieved the first position with a record 1,405 admissions in a single day.
Besides in Ludhiana-I block, Government Primary Smart School Giaspura had the highest admissions at 440, while GPSS Dhandhari Khurd had 198 new admissions.
Praising the government school staff on nearly meeting the target, district education officer (secondary) Harjit Singh said, “Various teams were made which visited streets and slum areas from 8am to late night. Many teachers reached out to brick kilns and industrial establishments and informed them about facilities in government schools and motivated them for admissions.”
Besides, admission booths would also be set-up outside every government school in Punjab and will be operational till March 31, where teaching and non-teaching staff would be available during school timings.
Teachers irked by ‘added burden’
Even though the key responsibility area of teachers is teaching, they have been asked to secure admissions. Government school teachers have hence opposed this decision.
Without disclosing her name, a government school teacher told TOI, “At the time when board exams are going on, we have been given this task of getting admissions done. Getting students enrolled in government schools is not the job of teachers. We are here to teach and not to do non-teaching job.”
Besides, private schools are of the view the decision could affect their businesses.