Punjab govt school enrolments up by 4.36%

The Punjab education department has recorded a 4.36% increase in student enrolments at government schools across the state for the 2023-24 academic session.

The trend is promising, as the admission process will continue for three more months with results of Classes 8 and 10 pending. The education department aims to take the figure up to 10%.

There are around 12,880 primary, 2,670 middle, 1,740 high and 1,972 senior secondary schools in Punjab.

Since admissions for the current academic session began on April 1, 29.22 lakh students have enrolled in government schools, up from 27.95 lakh in 2022-23.

To encourage more parents to send their wards to school, the education department had started a door-to-door awareness drive a few months ago. Then, a special admission campaign was organised on March 10, where the department claims to have enrolled over 1 lakh students in a single day.

At 6.19%, the biggest jump in enrolments came in Classes 9 to 12, where, as per the education department, the figure rose from 7.89 lakh to 8.42 lakh since last year (see box).

Confirming this, Dr Shankar Chaudhary, nodal officer for the enrolment drive, said, “Our target is to increase the strength of students at government schools by 10%. We have already achieved a 4.36% rise. The department and teachers are working tirelessly to increase admissions. Therefore, we hope to achieve the 10% target in the next two months.”

He shared that the admission process for primary and high will continue up to May 31 and for senior secondary classes, it will go up to July 31. Students can enrol in any government school of their choice, irrespective of distance.

The admission forms can be obtained directly from the school. In line with the Right to Education Act, students are enrolled without any admission fee or screening procedure, such as test or interview, up to Class 8. From Class 9 onwards, school charge nominal fees from students.