Chandigarh, November 10
Former Punjab BJP State President and former Rajya Sabha MP Avinash Rai Khanna today stated that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann must realize that a genuine “Sikhiya Kranti” cannot be achieved merely by dumping hardware and painting school buildings. Qualified teachers are fundamental to ensuring that educational infrastructure is put to effective use.
Reacting to the Chief Minister’s self-congratulatory claims of installing 40,003 computers in government schools to usher in a digital revolution, Khanna challenged Bhagwant Mann to declare publicly how many computer teachers his government has recruited throughout its tenure. “The answer is not a single one,” Khanna noted.
The senior BJP leader pointed out that before claiming an educational turnaround, the Chief Minister should look at the ground reality: middle schools across Punjab completely lack computer teachers. Teachers from senior secondary schools are being temporarily deputed to other institutions for three days a week merely to keep records on paper. Furthermore, these teachers are overburdened with non-teaching administrative duties, leaving them with practically no time to conduct actual classroom lessons.
Khanna recalled that computer labs established in 2006–07 have now turned into unserviceable junk. “During the SAD-BJP government in 2016, 24 computers per school were operated efficiently using N-Computing technology. In contrast, providing a mere 8 computers for every 200 students today is nothing short of a cruel joke on digital education,” he said.
Taking up the long-pending grievances of educators, Khanna highlighted that computer teachers regularized under the Punjab Information and Communication Technology Education Society (PICTES) back in 2011 continue to be deprived of basic allowances, career progression, and medical reimbursement.
“Despite winning a favourable verdict in the High Court regarding the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission, the Mann government is evading its legal obligation to grant revised pay scales. Instead of giving teachers their rightful dues, the government is squandering lakhs of rupees from the public exchequer on high-priced lawyers to fight against its own teachers in the Supreme Court,” Khanna said.
