Education sector to get boost with Punjab budget: Min

The first budget of the Captain Amarinder Singh led government would provide a huge boost to the education sector in Punjab, cabinet minister Aruna Chaudhary said here today.
She also said that the grants for Panjab University, Chandigarh, have been increased from Rs 26 crore to Rs 33 crore.
Primary education forms the base of the educational infrastructure and Rs 21 crore have been earmarked in the budget especially for furniture purchase to reform the basic infrastructure of the primary schools, the education minister said in a statement here.
Besides, Rs 10 crore have been kept to make available computers in the primary schools and Rs 5.25 crore for green boards, she said.

To give impetus to quality education, the best schools would be announced in primary, middle, high and senior secondary categories in every block and Rs 9.27 crore have been allocated for the purpose, she said.
NRIs as well as the other sections of the society would be made partners in the 'Parho Punjab, Parhao Punjab' (Study Punjab, teach Punjab) campaign intended to transform the educational sector, she said.

Chaudhary said free wi-fi facility would be provided in all the 48 government colleges.
Besides, five degree colleges would be opened in the backward regions of the state for which Rs 15 crore has been kept, she said.

A central institute has been announced in Talwandi Sabo for preservation and development besides digitisation and research in Punjabi language, she said.
A sum of Rs 5 crore has been kept for central state library, Patiala which would be utilised for an e-library besides infrastructural needs, she said.
"For bringing about sea change in the 142-year-old government Mohindra college and the government colleges of Kapurthala, Malerkotla, Hoshiarpur and Amritsar, from infrastructural point of view, Rs 10 crore have been earmarked apart from the Rs 3 crore for the Urdu academy at Malerkotla," she said.
The grants for Panjab University, Chandigarh, have been increased from Rs 26 crore to Rs 33 crore, she said.