KHATKAR KALAN: Punjab Chie Minister  Parkash Singh Badal  Friday laid the foundation stone of Adarsh School for poor children from rural areas at Khatkar Lalan the native village of Shaheed Bhagat Singh.

The school would start functioning from the next academic session and would have all facilities to provide top class education to the poor rural children.

 "The standard of education in these schools could be comparable to the best in the field," said Badal while speaking on the occasion. The Chief Minister added that one Adarsh School was being opened in every assembly segment of Punjab in the first phase. He asserted that no state could progress without imparting quality education to the students. The education would be provided absolutely free of cost to the poor students in these schools, said the

Badal who also announced that three existing schools in each assembly would also be upgraded (infrastructure wise) to the level of an Adarsh School. Apart from this the state government had also planned to equip the laboratories of the existing schools, he revealed. Quoting from the letter of the Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh from jail, Badal said that "an independent India means an educated India.  Illiteracy is the worst from of slavery.  Not until every child in the country has received model education, can the country be called free".

Stressing the need to revolutionize the educational scenario in the state, Badal pointed out that conventional education would not help the youth alone in securing better job prospects because vocationalization of the education was the need of the hour.  He said that the state government had embarked upon an ambitious programme to open 'skill development centers' through out the state to impart technical training to the youth to improve their chances of employability.    

Badal  said that Punjab was the first state to introduce the concept of Adarsh School aimed at imparting quality education to the poor and intelligent students.  He said that the basic objective of this novel scheme was to impart education to the under privileged at par with the students from affluent strata of society.  Badal said that the state government had made a provision of Rs 75 crore for this scheme in the current annual plan.  He said that 17000 new teachers would be recruited soon to fill up the vacant posts in the schools to ensure congenial atmosphere to the advantage of the pupils.   

The Chief Minister urged the people especially from the Doaba belt who had a fairly good concentration in NRI Diaspora to initiate development works through making investment in their native villages by seeking matching grant from the state government too. Badal asked the people to be vigilant and oversee the development works being undertaken in their respective domains to ensure strict quality control as per the laid down parameters.