The Punjab School Education Department will hold a state-wide mega parent-teacher meeting (PTM) in all government schools on October 9.The school heads and teachers have also been asked to inform parents about the government welfare and education-related initiatives, including the Mawan-Dhiyan Satkar Yojana and Mission Samarth. They have also been asked to record video testimonials of women (parents) beneficiaries.The best 10 testimonials from each school must be uploaded on the schools’ social media pages and shared in parents’ WhatsApp groups.October 9 will be observed as a non-study day in government schools, with no regular classes. The principals and teachers have been directed to encourage parents to attend the meeting along with their children.However, the directions have drawn criticism from teacher organisations, which have objected to the use of teachers for what they termed the publicity of government schemes.Vikram Dev Singh, president of the Democratic Teachers Front, appealed to the government teachers not to engage in the “publicity propaganda” of the AAP government. “We have asked teachers to limit the PTM to the holistic progress card of the children, including their strengths and areas requiring improvement, and guide parents on ways to support learning at home,” he said.