The Aam Aadmi Party government of Punjab has approved a budget of ₹123 crore for recruiting sanitation and cleanliness workers, security guards, and watchmen at state-run schools, in order to build “clean and safe” campuses.
Likewise, earlier this year, finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema, while presenting the Punjab Budget, also announced an amount for recruiting “campus managers,” who would operate similarly to “estate managers” in Delhi government schools.
“The majority of government schools lack a sweeper-cum-peon”, said the school education minister Harjot Singh Bains. “It has been decided to grant a monthly fund to School Management Committees (SMCs) so they can hire someone to handle the task of sweepers in order to make sure that the teachers don’t have to do that,” he further added.
Furthermore, minister Harjot Singh Bains even stated that for the safety of children, a monthly budget has also been granted for SMCs to engage security guards in all senior secondary schools and girls high schools, adding that the school managers would look after the managerial work to lessen the burden of teachers in the government schools.
Subsequently, this is seen as one of the major steps taken by the Punjab government for the betterment of the education system in the state. Moreover, the school and education model of the Aam Aadmi Party has always been its strongest asset. Likewise, the Kejriwal’s School model of Delhi has gained tremendous popularity across the globe.
Now, the Bhagwant Mann government’s decision to allot ₹123 crore budget for the government schools to have guards, campus managers and sanitation workers, is seen as one the biggest reforms in the education sector.
In November this year, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are going to have assembly elections, and the Aam Aadmi Party is actively campaigning, promoting its model of governance and educational reforms in Punjab and Delhi.
