Punjab as an Educational Destination

Punjab a well-known state of north India, famous for its agriculture, culture and tradition and renowned for well-known Sardars’ community (the people of this community follows Sikhism) is a leader in providing education, be it primary compulsory education or higher technical education. The students who had studied from institutions of Punjab have left their mark world over in all the fields.

One of the big names from Punjab is Dr. Kalpana Chawla who has completed her undergraduate studies from Punjab and this proves the level of education in the state.  

The story of Kalpana Chawla is a proof that opportunities are available to all in equal; men and women rated equally in Punjab. So let’s have a peep through the education system and the way it has developed in Punjab and continuously developing. The people of Punjab were actively engaged in Indian Freedom struggle. Everyone knows Saheed Bhagat Singh who had sacrificed his life for Indian Freedom Struggle; he is a survivor, a great martyr of mother India. Now his brave life story is taught in Indian School curricula.

After the country got independence in 1947, the office of Punjab Education Department started functioning from Shimlas’ Metropol Hotel. In those days the education secretary was also the Director of Public Instruction. The office was moved to Chandigarh, the new capital of Punjab State on 15th February 1959. In 1966, the southern districts of Punjab were made into a new State and named as Haryana; the department was recognized with some staff shifting to the new state. At present there are four Directorates working under the Punjab Education Department, these are the Directorate of Public Instruction, (Colleges), Directorate of Secondary Education, Directorate of Primary Education and Directorate of State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT).

Punjab is the state where education is taken care properly. There is an arrangement for providing free primary education to all children between the age group of 6 – 14 years. The Punjab government is aiming continuously to increase the number of educational institutions in Punjab so as no child left behind in acquiring education. The education system is consolidated and thus primary and middle school and high and secondary school are grouped together. The secondary school education system comprises of high and senior secondary schools. The earlier four-tier system— primary, middle, high and secondary schools — now has become a two-tier system.

There is no dearth of institutions for higher professional and higher technical education in Punjab. In recent years industries have expanded their wings in the land of Punjab, these require huge manpower both technical and non technical; definitely the demand for technical manpower is high. To fill the void much stress has been given on expansion, modernization and reorientation of technical education and industrial training system.

The principal objective is to produce engineers, technicians, and craftsmen capable of handling sophisticated industrial technical operation. To attain the purpose the new engineering and technical institutes are being opened up and existing one are upgraded.

The World Bank is supporting the educational development project in Punjab. Punjab Technical University has been set up in Jalandhar.  The state has also been ranked 7th amongst the all Indian States in terms of education. 

The Higher Education Department of Punjab Government is administering authority for education starting from Inter to Post Graduate level in varied disciplines. There are 361 colleges functioning in the eight divisions under the supervision and guidance of the Secretary of Education, Government of Punjab. There are total 76 Inter, 218 Degree and 67 Postgraduate Institutions.

The following figures show how Punjab has maintained a well-developed educational system over the decades.

• 5 Universities, 2 deemed universities



• 38 Engineering Colleges: 9,455 students passing out each year



• 57 MBA & BBA Colleges: 2,000 students passing out each year



• 25 MCA Colleges: 1,180 students passing out each year



• 355 undergraduate Colleges: 44,000 students passing out each year



• 75 post graduate Colleges: 16,032 students passing out each year

Administration

Mrs. Rajinder Kaur Bhattal Cabinet Minister for Medical Education & Research, Higher Education & Languages

Mr. Ramesh Chander Dogra Cabinet Minister for Technical Education

Mr. Partap Singh Bajwa Cabinet Minister for School Education