Education Department gears up with missionary zeal to conduct PAS
Rajnish Sareen
Chandigarh ,August 04, 2020: The commendation by the none other than the Chief Minister, Capt. Amarinder Singh during his recent " Facebook Live", it seems, has given impetus to the education department to further strengthen the qualitative improvement drive in school education currently underway in the state. It is worthwhile to mention here that the Chief Minister has exuberantly lauded the dedicated hard work of the teachers and the students for the excellent performance in the class XII results consecutively for the second year.
The Education Department, under the visionary stewardship of the Education Minister, Vijay Inder Singla and the Education Secretary, Krishan Kumar, is all set to translate another unique trendsetter initiative aimed at making Punjab a leader in qualitative improvement in education. After successfully executing the
" Mission Cent Percent" and " Each One, Bring One" drive to outsmart the private schools in the PSEB results as well as unprecedented increase in enrollment by the government schools, the education department has conceptualized " Punjab Achievement Survey", perhaps the first of its kind initiative by any state in the country.
" The qualitative improvement drive, which is underway for the past three years , has not only spruced up infrastructural facilities with the active community participation but a student friendly teaching-learning environment by devising innovative teaching techniques has also been ensured. It has started yielding positive response, which is quite evident from the PSEB results and increase in enrollment", said the Education Minister, Vijay Inder Singla while adding that the "Punjab Achievement Survey", was aimed at to understand how to make the school education system more effective for the society.
The " Punjab Achievement Survey" , would not only prepare the students and teachers for the " National Achievement Survey" well in advance but this mega exercise would go a long way in further strengthening the foundation of understanding level as well as enhancing the reasoning ability of the students.
The PAS would be conducted in all the government schools of the state and the students from primary to XII classes would participate. It would be based on the parametres of National Achievement Survey and the learning outcome of the students would be assessed on the basis of Multiple Choice Questions( MCQs) as per the prescribed syllabus of selective subjects including English, Science, Math and Social Studies of different classes.
With a view to prepare the students as well as the teachers for the survey, a comprehensive programme of organising quizzes in August and mock tests from September has been planned . A training programme of the District Mentors, Block Mentors, PPDCs, BMTs, CMTs etc. has been started. The Question Banks to develop comprehensibility of the basic concepts of different subjects among the students is being prepared.
Besides, With a view to conducting the " Punjab Achievement Survey"meticulously, the Education Department has started organising webinars to sensitise the District Education Officers, Deputy District Education Officers, Block Primary Education Officers, Parho Punjab , Parhao Punjab coordinators, Zila Sikhiya Sudhar Teams, and Social Media Coordinators.
" The officials and the teachers of the education department have braved the unprecedented pandemic COVID-19 and have done exceptionally well to provide quality education through digital mode to make " Ghar Baithe Sikhiya" programme successful. Now, I am sure that they would successfully execute the "Punjab achievement Survey" with renewed vigour and enthusiasm", said Education Secretary, Krishan Kumar while interacting with them through webinars.
The training webinars have been planned to sensitize the officials, resource persons and teachers about the parametres, tools, procedures for the survey so that all of them could play their role actively and meticulously for ensuring success of the ' Punjab Achievement Survey'.
"As the education is a tri-polar process, hence, the parents should also be involved to ensure successful execution of the survey", further said Krishan Kumar while adding that it would not only boost the qualitative improvement drive but also develop reasoning ability among the students, thus, honing up their skill to take various competitive examinations.