Amarinder orders PSEB chairman to quit after poor exam results

Pinning responsibility for the "shockingly poor" Class X board exam results on the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB), Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today ordered its department chairman to resign.

This will pave way for a major overhaul of the school education system in the state, an official spokesman said here.

The chief minister's directive was communicated to PSEB chairman Balbir Singh Dhol by Education Minister Aruna Chaudhry, who obtained the resignation which was immediately accepted, he said.

The interim charge of the PSEB has been handed over to the additional chief secretary (ACS, school education) and a search committee has been ordered to be set up to find a new chairperson in the next 30 days, he added.

The committee will consist of chief secretary, Punjab, as chairman, ACS (school education) and vice-chancellor (Panjab University, Chandigarh) as members.

The shake-up in PSEB came two days after the chief minister sought a report from the education minister on the atrociously poor Class X results in the state.

The chief minister, the spokesman further said, has sent out a strong message that nobody would be allowed to play with the future of the children of Punjab.

Pointing out that Amarinder had taken a serious view of the poor Class X Board exam results, the spokesman said the chief minister has made it clear that he would not tolerate any further laxity in the matter of improving and upgrading the school education system.

Highly disturbed at the deteriorating standards of education in Punjab, the chief minister has ordered all concerned officials and departments to create a detailed roadmap for bringing the education system in the state on track.

He has also directed Choudhary to prepare a blueprint for raising the standards of education in the state.

In the wake of the appalling results, the chief minister had also directed the finance department to make available all necessary funds to the education department for undertaking urgent measures to improve the quality of education and infrastructure in government schools, the spokesman said.

Besides educational quality, the chief minister had directed immediate and proactive steps for infrastructure upgradations, and provision of basic amenities and facilities in all government schools in order to prepare students to meet the high standards of the competitive educational environment prevailing in the country today.

Dhol, who was appointed as chairman of PSEB in December last year immediately after his retirement as Punjab Civil Services (PCS) officer by the previous Parkash Singh Badal government has resigned, a board spokesman told PTI.

"Yesterday, sleuths of Punjab vigilance bureau raided the premises of board and house of Dhol at Mohali," he said.

The raids were conducted in connection with the alleged irregularities in recruitment to various posts in cooperative banks when Dhol was the registrar in 2010, he said.

There was a shocking 15-point dip in students' performance in the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) Class X exam, in which over 40 percent of the students have failed, an official spokesman said.

Around 57 per cent students of class X passed the board exam conducted by PSEB, the result of which was declared recently.