Chandigarh: The Punjab government has directed all education boards and schools in the state to ensure that Punjabi is taught as a mandatory subject to students. A notification in this regard has been issued.

Punjab Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains said if a student in Chandigarh is not taught Punjabi, his/her Class 10 certificate will be considered null and void in Punjab.

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A law in the state will mandate that no student in Class 10 will be declared passed without clearing Punjabi. Schools that fail to comply with these rules will face action under the Punjab Language Act, 2008.

Additionally, the government is working on a new education policy and has gathered feedback from Class 12 students. The survey revealed that 20% of students aspire to join the army and police, prompting the government to introduce training programmes to prepare them for these careers.

The Punjab government is also set to introduce its own education policy.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will lead the formation of an expert committee to draft the Punjab State Education Policy. The policy will ensure that education remains a state subject, with direct or indirect alignment with the National Education Policy.

Bains also lashed out at the BJP-led Centre and the CBSE, accusing them of dropping Punjabi from the list of subjects for Class 10 and dubbed it as a “well-planned conspiracy” against Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiyat.

New Lessons

  • Punjab government is working on a new education policy
  • The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) also strongly opposed the removal of Punjabi as an option in the regional language list by the CBSE for 10th and 12th standard students and demanded its immediate restoration.
  • Punjab Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains (in pic) said Science, Maths, Social Science, Hindi and English are the main subjects of Class 10.
  • It means Punjabi is not the main subject. The main regional language has been finished,” the minister alleged
  • Bains said that Punjabi was removed from the regional and foreign languages.
  • Foreign languages Thai, German, French etc. has been kept but Punjabi is not mentioned.

Addressing the media here, Bains slammed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for allegedly dropping Punjabi from the list of subjects as he referred to its draft examination policy.

“It is a well-planned conspiracy against Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiyat,” he alleged.

He said Science, Maths, Social Science, Hindi and English are the main subjects of Class 10. The regional and foreign languages are in one group while the rest of the subjects are in the other group, he said.

“It means Punjabi is not the main subject. The main regional language has been finished,” he alleged.

Bains further said that Punjabi was removed from the regional and foreign languages.

They kept foreign languages Thai, German, French etc., but they forgot to mention Punjabi, he said.

Asserting Punjabi is well-spoken language in many states, including Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal, Bains said such an important language has great culture and history and they forget it.

Bains hit out at the Punjab BJP for terming this issue as a “clerical mistake”.

“They played with the emotions of Punjab and rubbed salt into the wounds,” he said.

Bains said he has written to Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, seeking to know what action it will take for the “clerical mistake”.

Meanwhile, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) also strongly opposed the removal of Punjabi as an option in the regional language list by the CBSE for 10th and 12th standard students and demanded its immediate restoration.

In a statement released here, former Education Minister and senior SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema said it was shocking to see that the CBSE working under the Union government had removed Punjabi as a regional language option for the students.

He said that Punjabi had earlier been removed as a regional language option in Jammu and Kashmir also.
(With Agency inputs)