Punjab government has decided to bear the entire expenditure for higher education of students passing out from meritorious schools in the state.
The state government has already earmarked Rs 15 crore as budgetary allocation during the current fiscal for this, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said today.
The decision was made after all students of the first batch of meritorious schools passed this year's 10+2 exams conducted by the state board.
Project Director of meritorious schools, Major General K A S Bhullar (retd) apprised Badal that of 2,053 students from the schools who appeared in the 10+2 board exams, 1,270 scored above 80 per cent marks. Their students also secured 23 positions in the merit list.
He also told the Chief Minister that with change in medium of instruction from Punjabi to English some students may have had a drop in performance but they are committed to provide special coaching for the language so that the students can perform better in this session, an official spokesperson said.
Badal asked the project director to make more concerted efforts with sharpened focus to impart quality education to the students, especially from humble and rural background, so that a majority of them crack all-India level exams for entry into professional colleges.
The schools in its first year have created a record by having 161 students from rural areas qualify for the IIT-JEE Advanced Exam, while nearly 550 students have secured position in the merit list for admissions to the country's most reputed engineering colleges, Major Gen Bhullar (retd) said.
