The Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Thursday passed a resolution aimed at improving the school curriculum to equip students with life skills, encourage self-employment and help make them self-reliant. The resolution was adopted after an intense debate in the House.While the ruling AAP highlighted its education reforms and investments in public schools, Opposition members urged the government to oppose the Centre’s National Education Policy (NEP), alleging that it was aimed at the “saffronisation” of education.The resolution, moved by AAP MLA Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra, also stressed the need to steer Punjab’s youth away from drug abuse.Participating in the debate, Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains said the AAP government had invested heavily in rebuilding dilapidated school infrastructure inherited from previous governments, while simultaneously introducing academic reforms.The minister said 882 students from Punjab government schools had qualified the NEET examination this year. He added that infrastructure projects worth Rs 2,638 crore had been completed in 19,125 government schools and that the state had secured an additional Rs 1,000 crore from the World Bank to continue education reforms.Congress MLA Pargat Singh urged the government to build a political consensus against the National Education Policy, arguing that Punjab should follow Tamil Nadu’s example in opposing the policy. Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira also criticised the Centre, alleging that it had steadily curtailed states’ powers through measures such as GST and labour law reforms and was now moving towards “One Nation, One Education”. Congress MLA Rana Gurjit Singh sought the establishment of a regulatory authority to curb exploitation of students by private universities.