Addressing the media on 1st September 2018 in Kartarpur, Punjab Education Minister O.P. Soni announced the state government's plan to introduce a coupon system of Direct Benefits Transfer(DBT) to give children access to education in private schools in the district of Jalandhar. Keeping in mind the state government's inability to supply teachers to government schools in the border district of Jalandhar, the state government has announced its plans to give coupons worth Rs. 3000 per month to each student enabling them to now access private schools in the neighbourhood.
CCS has consistently advocated for a shift to per-student funding through vouchers, direct cash transfers or scholarships as an instrument of improving access to, quality of and efficiency in education. Earlier in the year, we had made presentation to the Punjab Government on DBTs in education, and participated in the meeting of the Punjab Governance Reforms and Ethics Commission, to present a proposal a DBT pilot in the state. To know more about our school choice campaign visit http://schoolchoice.in/.