23rd, January, 2023

Punjab PCS Prelims: Punjab Current Events(Education)

Punjab PCS Mains:

Paper VI – General Studies III (Economy, Statistics and Security Issues): Topic: Human Resource Development.
Paper IV – General Studies I (History, Geography and Society): Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social sector – Health, Education, Human resources, issues relating to poverty and malnutrition.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann unveiled the ‘School of Eminence,’ an ambitious government project. CM Bhagwant Mann described it as a game-changing step toward ensuring a bright future for students.

The Punjab government has set a Rs 200 crore budget for the ‘School of Eminence’ project.

The project aims at reimagining education in government schools envisioning holistic development of students and preparing them to be responsible citizens.

Its five pillars are state-of-the-art infrastructure, academics, human resource management, sports and co-curricular activities and community engagement

The project is also concerned with developing innovative teaching methods to help students prepare for professional exams.
CM Bhagwant Mann stated that the schools are being built with the aspirations of the freedom fighters in mind, in order to prepare students for future needs and to help Punjab become a role model in the field of education.
He referred to teachers as nation builders and stated that they have played an important role in bringing about a qualitative change in the field of education.

The ‘School of Eminence’ project aims to revitalize education in government schools and ensure students’ holistic development. The Punjab government will upgrade 117 government schools in 23 districts as part of the ‘School of Eminence’ project, with a focus on grades 9 to 12.

According to the scheme, existing schools that will be converted into “Schools of Eminence” will be supported with additional resources, and a pupil teacher ratio of 35:1 will be maintained. Students will receive career counselling as well as free preparation for competitive exams and Armed Forces entrance exams. Clubs will be formed to demonstrate their leadership abilities and to improve life skills such as robotics, cooking, and driving.
Yoga, fine arts, dance, music, theatre, and other activities will have specialist trainers. Each school will have state-of-the-art sports facilities and coaches for at least three games (hockey, football, Kabaddi, and volleyball), as well as sports courts.
According to the scheme document, students will receive enhanced learning programs in artificial intelligence, animation, web design, and foreign languages such as French, Chinese, German, Spanish, and Japanese.
Fitness parks, indoor gymnasiums, open air theatres, and swimming pools will be built on campus based on space availability; if no space is available, access to the nearest swimming pool will be provided in collaboration with the sports department.
On campus, there will be arts and crafts rooms, a school band, and a high-speed internet connection with WiFi.
The scheme also includes a child tracking system that includes photos of each student on the ePunjab portal.

The plan is to include legal studies as part of the curriculum in these schools. There will be English fluency courses to prepare students for international exposure and employability.
Among other things, the plan calls for ‘well-lit spacious rooms, electrical appliances, adequate furniture, functional toilets, vending machines for sanitary pads and incinerators machines, swimming pool, wi-fi, auditorium’.
All classrooms would be ‘Smart,’ with window blinds, interactive panels with speakers in at least two classrooms, almirahs with student lockers, rechargeable laser pointers, cubicles, and other features.
Among the proposed facilities are a reception area with digital records for each child, uniform color-coded classrooms, star student boards, bio-metric attendance, a public address system throughout the campus, a canteen, and a tuck shop.
Robotics labs, virtual reality labs, language/listening labs, ATAL tinkering, and STEM labs will also be available in schools.
The scheme focuses on Children with Special Needs (CWSN) and proposes a “barrier free environment for CWSN” with accessible toilets and furniture, as well as braille signage for the visually impaired.
The schools will be eco-friendly, complete with solar panels, LEDs, nutrition garden, waste management, plastic reuse and water conservation systems in place. For safety, the scheme proposes fire extinguishers and alarms in every school, CCTV cameras and display boards with emergency numbers.

(News Source: Indian Expresss & outlookindia)

Punjab PCS Prelims: Punjab Current Events(Economy)

Punjab PCS Mains:

Paper VI – General Studies III (Economy, Statistics and Security Issues); Topic: Punjab Economy

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced on Saturday that the prestigious G-20 summit, set to take place in the holy city of Amritsar in March 2023.

It will promote Punjab as a preferred international business destination, as well as provide a platform for the government to showcase its achievements and facilities for establishing new businesses.

The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum of the world’s major developed and developing economies. It comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, US and the European Union (EU).
India will assume the presidency of the G20 for one year from December 1, 2022, to November 30, 2023, and is expected to host over 200 meetings across the country.

The entire idea of the presidency would be to identify consensus-based solution, accelerating the scale and scope of the response of the global community, trans-border challenges such as regulation of virtual assets, dealing with cross border remittances, and also the issue of global capital flows and how to create buffers and safety nets for developing countries that get affected by spillovers from policies of developed nations.

(News Source: economictimes)