Presenting the four-and-a-half-year status report of school education, Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains said that the Bhagwant Mann government has transformed the Punjab’s education system through a ₹2,300 crore reform programme, with Punjab surpassing Kerala to emerge as No. 1 in school education in the NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog Report 2026-27.
Presenting the status report at a press conference at Punjab Bhawan on Tuesday, Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains said that 3.64 lakh students have shifted from private schools to government schools since 2022, reflecting the growing public trust in government schools. He attributed the transformation to the sustained focus of the state government on strengthening government schools since assuming office in March 2022.
Recalling the AAP’s electoral promise, Minister Harjot Singh Bains pointed out, “AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal and CM Bhagwant Singh Mann went to every village and city and asked for one chance to fix Punjab’s government schools. The people of Punjab showed their progressive mindset by giving 92 seats to the AAP on this very narrative. We honoured that trust.”
The Education Minister noted, “The education system we inherited in 2022 was in shambles. A majority of schools had no boundary walls. Over 5,000 schools had no functional toilets. 4 lakh children were forced to sit on the floor. 500 schools had no drinking water. And textbooks arrived 5 months late. This was the reality of Punjab’s education.”
Highlighting the scale of infrastructure transformation, he said, “The Bhagwant Mann government has invested ₹2,300 crore in school infrastructure, averaging ₹15 lakh per school, in the last four and a half years. As a result, 13,920 new toilets have been constructed and every school in the state now has functional toilets. 2 lakh desks have been distributed, ensuring that no child sits on the floor today.”