As government school teachers across the state, unanimously condemned using school students as ‘political tools’ by AAP-led state government, AAP MLA from Amritsar South Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar on Wednesday distributed new school bags among students of Government Senior Secondary School, Kot Baba Deep Singh (Boys).The school bags distributed among students of government schools in Punjab bear a photograph of CM Bhagwant Mann and are in yellow colour that teachers say matches the flag of the ruling party. “School heads of senior secondary schools have received bags for the students of Classes 11 and 12 from the regional offices of the Punjab School Education Board. These bags did not need to have CM’s photo. Similarly, for students of Classes 1 to 10, polythene envelopes with the Chief Minister’s picture have been sent to the schools through the BPEO offices. Government schools are not propaganda centres of any political party,” said Ashwini Awasthi, District Head, Democratic Teacher’s Front. “ About 60 per cent of the state i.e. more than 1,100 senior secondary and hundreds of high schools are still running without principals and headmasters, more than 100 posts of block primary education officers are vacant. The shortage of teachers is continuously increasing and the current government has failed to complete the recruitment by issuing advertisements for new recruitment of regular teachers as per the requirement during its tenure. No attention has been paid to preparing a draft of Punjab’s own education policy according to the local requirements, which the Punjab Cabinet promised two years ago. Students need to be provided with quality education, not bags with CM’s photo,” he said.Meanwhile, Dr Nijjar said that the initiative of providing free school bags aims not only to encourage students to pursue their education with greater enthusiasm but also to reduce the financial burden on their parents. Dr Nijjar further said that owing to the comprehensive reforms introduced in the education sector, Punjab has emerged as one of the leading states in the country. He reiterated that the government’s objective is to ensure quality education and equal opportunities for every child.