- “Now Govt. Teachers can get Skill-based education at subsidised fee: Prof.Karamjeet Singh, Vice-Chancellor (JGND PSOU, Patiala”
Patiala: In a special lecture hosted by the State Council of Educational Research and Training, Punjab, through the medium of EDUSAT, the educational satellite of India,Prof (Dr.) Karamjeet Singh, Vice-Chancellor of Jagat Guru Nanak Dev Punjab State Open University, Patiala announced a special educational scheme for the Government School Teachers of Punjab. The lecture was attended by around1.5 lakh government school teachers across the State of Punjab. This special initiative is meant to provide avenues of life- long learning to the school teachers of Punjab so as to ensure their career growth and allow them to acquire new age skills. This will enable them to participate effectively in the contemporary dynamic knowledge society.
For this purpose the university is providing a special educational package for the government school teachers by offering 100% exemption in tuition fee and security charges for all its Post Graduate, Under-Graduate, Diploma and Certificate Programmes. The state department of school education consists of three cadres that is primary, master and lecturer/ principal cadre respectively. The department provides provisions to continuously promote 25 percent of its cadre to the next level provided the teachers at primary level earn a graduate degree. Similarly the teachers at the master cadre level can be promoted to the lecturer or principal cadre if they earn a post graduation. All this can be achieved by in-service school teachers through various degree and post graduation programmes offered by the university at subsidized rates and also in a highly flexible and accessible mode. Apart from this the university offers a wide variety of skill-based certificate and diploma courses that can be immensely useful for the govt. school teachers.
JGND PSOU was established by Govt. of Punjab in year 2019 and is UGC recognised Punjab State’s first Open University. In his highly illuminating talk the Vice-Chancellor, Prof (Dr.) Karamjeet Singh, highlighted the fact that JGND PSOU aims to provide affordable quality education to diverse range of learners across Punjab. He is quite hopeful that this special scheme for govt. school teachers will prove to be a milestone in up-skilling the knowledge base of teachers paving way for the creation of new pedagogical techniques. He also told that at present the Gross Enrolment ratio for higher educational institutions across Punjab is 29% and JGND PSOU aim to take it to 50% level as envisioned by NEP, 2020.