Punjab School Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains on Tuesday appealed to the Union Minister of State for Education Annapurna to make Punjab’s history — which is replete with the stories of martyrs, gurus, saints, freedom fighters, and having a rich culture — a part of the country’s school curriculum.
Bains, during the online meeting of the 58th General Council of the National Education and Research Council of the Government of India, said that Punjab’s history has a pivotal place in the history of India and it is very important to teach this to the students of the nation. He appealed to the central minister to make it a part of the national curriculum.
During the meeting, Bains also raised an important issue about the setting up of a regional education institute for the state of Punjab. “The National Council of Education and Research had given its approval in 2017 for the establishment of a regional education institute for the state. Acting on this, the Punjab Government had identified the required land in Rupnagar district to build a campus of the institute,” he said.
Bains said that the identified land was close to Chandigarh Airport and also connected with good road access, but Punjab Government's proposal for the land was rejected by the National Council of Education and Research on technical grounds and the matter was subsequently closed.
Emphasizing the need to establish a regional education institution in the state of Punjab, Bains said that there is no national level institution for school education and training of school teachers in the state, so it is necessary to establish this institution in the State.
He assured the Union Minister of State for Education that the Punjab Government is committed to providing suitable land for this institute with easy access to the airport and good road connectivity.
At the same time, the Minister also raised the issue of royalty charged by the National Education and Research Council in the name of copyright of books and demanded that it should be waived so that the Punjab School Education Board can use it to improve school education in the state.
