Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains, along with former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and AAP Punjab in-charge Manish Sisodia, on Thursday felicitated more than 300 principals of government schools whose students qualified the JEE (Main), JEE (Advanced) and NEET-UG 2026 examinations under the Punjab Academic Coaching for Excellence (PACE) initiative.Addressing the felicitation ceremony at the Mohali Club in SAS Nagar, Bains said Punjab Government schools had recorded another year of impressive performance in national-level competitive examinations.He said 361 students qualified JEE (Main) 2026, marking a 35.2 per cent increase over the previous year, while 64 students cleared JEE (Advanced), registering a 45.5 per cent year-on-year rise.Bains said 882 students from government schools qualified NEET-UG 2026, compared with 847 in 2025 and 437 in 2024, i.e., growth of more than 100 per cent in two years. He attributed the improvement to the Punjab Sikhya Kranti initiative and enhanced academic support in government schools. — TNS