509 govt school students in Punjab crack NEET, CM Mann says education key to ending poverty

509 govt school students in Punjab crack NEET, CM Mann says education key to ending poverty. Chandigarh, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday announced that the state government is putting into practice "out-of-the-box ideas" to advance the education system, which he described as a way to end poverty and social ills.

Addressing a gathering after felicitating students who cleared the NEET test, Mann said that the education sector had seen a paradigm change in the past three years with path-breaking decisions being taken by the state government.

Mann said, "This is the red letter day as 509 students from government schools have cracked the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for admissions into medical colleges," according to an official release.

He stated that education, healthcare, infrastructure, industry, sports, employment and the fight against drugs are the priorities of the government. 

Freebie or concession cards cannot eliminate poverty and other social menaces from the state but it is education alone that can open the key which can lift people out of this cycle by enhancing their level of living, he further said.

The chief minister informed that his government is laboring day and night to improve the standard of education to empower masses.

For the first time in the state, a mass campaign in the shape of "Yudh Nashesyan Virudh" has been started under which offenders of drugs are being arrested and action is being intensified, he informed.

Mann further averred that since assuming the charge of office his government is working towards "clearing the mess made by their predecessors for the last 70 years".

"Few of our youngsters received overage for government jobs due to the lackadaisical approach of previous governments," he said, adding that now in the last three years under the A government 54,000 youngsters have secured jobs strictly on merit basis.

Mann claimed that it is a "good omen" for the state where "reverse migration is taking place in Punjab as youths are leaving foreign land to return and join state government jobs." It is because the recruitment process is completely transparent.

Due to his government's initiative the faith of the youths in working with the state government have increased, abandoning the idea of going abroad, he further added.

But the chief minister also said that most of the brain drain had happened due to the "laid-back attitude of past regimes due to which large numbers of youths had earlier migrated from the state".

Mann further said that since the A government has made a course correction, a vast majority of students are joining the socio-economic development of the state by entering government services.

He further added that the initiatives taken by the state government to empower women in the state have paid off in such a way that girls are excelling in all the streams today and even outnumbering the boys.

Mann also pointed out that his government has been appointing seven women officers as deputy commissioners and eight women as senior superintendents of police.