Chandigarh, October 30
Punjab Finance Minister Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema said that the state’s education system is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by the comprehensive infrastructure upgrades under the Sikhya Kranti program of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann led government, and bolstered by initiatives to enhance teacher strength and address long-standing concerns.
Finance Minister Cheema made these remarks on Thursday while engaging in an in-depth discussion with representatives from seven education department unions. The unions included the Special Cadre Adhiyapak Front, Computer Adhiyapak Union, Computer Adhiyapak Sangharsh Committee, Unemployed B. Ed. TET Pass Adhiyapak Union, ETT TET Pass Adhiyapak Union (Sunil Fazilka), and ETT TET Pass Adhiyapak Union (Jai Singh Wala). The Minister had a comprehensive review of their demands and also encouraged the union members to further dedicate themselves to boosting education standards in government schools.
Secretary Education Anindita Mitra apprised the Finance Minister that solutions for most of the unions’ demands were either in the final stage or currently being processed. She provided assurances that other legitimate demands would also be addressed shortly. In response, Finance Minister Cheema directed the Education Department to share the fiscal responsibilities associated with the legitimate demands with the Finance Department so that necessary action could be decided upon without delay.
In a separate engagement, Finance Minister Cheema also held a productive meeting with the All Punjab DST/CTF Contract Workers Union, offering his assurance that their issues would be resolved amicably. During these meetings, Special Secretary (Personnel) Upkar Singh and Special Secretary (Finance) Ajay Arora briefed the Finance Minister on their concerned departmental status of the demands put forth by the respective unions.
Union Members inclusing Veerpal Kaur Sidhana, Manpreet Singh Moga, Paramjit Kaur Pakhowal from Special Cadre Adhiyapak Front; Gurwinder Singh, Rakhi Manan, Harpreet Singh from Computer Adhiyapak Union; Jony Singla, Nardeep Sharma Sunit Sareen from Computer Adhiyapak Sangharsh Committee, Jaswant Ghubaya, Hardeep Singh, Sandeep Singh from Berojgar B. Ed. TET Pass Adhiyapak Union; Sunil Kumar, Salwinder Singh, Ranjit Singh from ETT TET Pass Adhiyapak Union (Sunil Fazilka); Kamal Thakur, Sohan Singh and Gurmukh Singh ETT TET Pass Adhiyapak Union (Jai Singh Wala), and Sandeep Singh, Kirandeep Singh and Pardeep Singh from All Punjab DST/CTF Contract Workers Union raised their issues during the meeting.
