1.6 lakh students shifted from private to government schools

A lot of private schools are shutting down because of the pandemic and approximately 1.60 lakh students have shifted to Government schools for the ongoing session. A lot of these shut private schools had marginal infrastructure and average teaching faculty and students from poor backgrounds. An owner of a school based in Mansa, Punjab said: “We are heavily dependent on fees from students to pay our staff. We are unable to hold any classes under present circumstances.” Official figures show that 1, 60,372 private school students shifted to government schools recently. And there has been a significant increase in fresh admissions in pre-school classes of government schools as well. 3,27,906 students have enrolled this session as against 2,25,565 last year. Also Read | Punjab State awards for 74 teachers & officials On the contrary, Dr. Ashwani Bhalla, president, Punjab Commerce and Management Association, said, “The picture is not as rosy as is being portrayed for government schools. Our assessment at the ground level has shown that government schools are just loading lessons on Whatsapp groups. Classes need innovation. A sizable number of students don’t have the mobile services at all.” -PTC News