SAS Nagar (Mohali): With 7,000 teachers from 2,000 schools across 23 districts of Punjab attending a two-day training program – Business Blasters – has entered the next stage of its implementation.
Punjab School Education Department conducted this special training. This is a first of its kind ambitious project of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab where the party had promised to bring about revolutionary changes in the education field in its election campaign in 2022.
Business Blasters is a student entrepreneurship program first launched in 2021 by the AAP-run Delhi government with seed capital of Rs.60 crore. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led government planned to replicate this in Punjab under ‘Punjab Young Entrepreneurs Program Scheme’. It aims at cultivating the entrepreneurial mindset of 11th-grade students in the state’s 2,000 Government Senior Secondary Schools.
Initially, it was launched as a pilot project in November 2022 in 32 Government Senior Secondary Schools of 9 districts of state. Total 11,000 students of 11th-grade participated and over 3000 of them received the seed money of Rs. 2000 per student to try their business ideas in a real-world situation. In Delhi government schools, 3 lakh students of 11th and 12th grade had been provided the same amount
Based on the success of the pilot program, the Punjab government decided to launch the full-fledged program. Notably, Vocational Education stream was introduced in Punjab schools in 1975 and has since been continuing.
From the government point of view, the Business Blasters program will give Punjab’s younger generation vision and purpose of life by preparing it mentally to tackle challenges of unemployment, drug addiction and migration by opening entrepreneurial avenues from the school stage. It is expected to help students become aware of their hidden strengths.
The training program covered various aspects, including problem-solving, teamwork, negotiation, innovation, and other entrepreneurial skills. Additionally, special sessions focused on motivation, teamwork, and real-world situations. The training segments included orientation, curriculum exposure, role-play, and clarifying roles and responsibilities.
More detailed outcomes of this flagship program of the government will become known and assessed as it enters the next higher stages of its implementation in the form of students’ viable business ideas pass the incubation test. The Delhi model of Business Blasters program, of course, will remain the guiding experience.
