When schools discover the child before the career: Punjab’s Education moment that India cannot ignore...by Raj Malhotra
There are rare moments in public policy when a government does not merely administer
education but begins to re-imagine its purpose. Punjab is standing at such a moment today.
Under the leadership of Bhagwant Singh Mann, and with the reform-driven clarity of Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains, the state has taken a decisive step away from exam- centric schooling towards student-centric development. The introduction of state-wide psychometric and career–aptitude assessments in government schools is not a symbolic reform—it is a structural correction to a decades-old policy gap in Indian education.
During a recent motivational interaction with Class 10 students at a government school in Ropar, one reality stood out unmistakably: Punjab is the first Indian state to systematically deploy sanctioned grants for psychometric testing at scale, inside public schools, for career clarity rather than post-failure counselling. That distinction matters.
Why This Intervention Is Historically Significant
India’s school system has long assumed that children will “figure it out” on their own. Streams are chosen by marks, social pressure, or limited exposure—not by aptitude, temperament, or cognitive strengths. The result has been predictable: misaligned careers, wasted potential, and emotional distress masked as academic underperformance.
Punjab’s initiative quietly challenges this legacy. By asking students who they are before asking what they will become, the state is shifting education from selection to self-discovery. This is not merely reform—it is course correction.
How Punjab Can Convert a Strong Start into a National Benchmark
To transform this promising initiative into a globally credible model, five refinements deserve urgent, thoughtful consideration:
1. Universal Inclusion Must Be Non-Negotiable
Career aptitude is not gendered. Extending psychometric assessments to both boys and girls is essential—not as an administrative detail, but as a constitutional commitment to equality of opportunity. Partial inclusion risks reinforcing stereotypes; universal inclusion dismantles them.
2. Start Earlier, When Minds Are Still Forming
By Class 10, many decisions are already constrained. Introducing structured assessments from Class 8 onward—beginning with cognitive orientation (such as Left–Right Brain dominance), followed by aptitude, interests, and personality mapping in Classes 9 and 10—allows growth to be guided, not guessed. Career clarity is a process, not an event.
3. Diagnosis Without Pedagogy Reform Is Incomplete
Testing alone cannot transform learning outcomes. Punjab must decisively transition towards activity-based, experiential learning, particularly through Gen Extra Muros Pedagogy— where learning extends beyond textbooks into projects, community engagement, simulations, and real-world problem solving. Careers are lived realities, not theoretical chapters.
4. Students Must Become Knowledge Constructors, Not Note-Takers
The future does not reward information recall; it rewards interpretation, synthesis, and creation. Schools must be redesigned to help students build knowledge—through inquiry, collaboration, reflection, and experimentation. When students construct meaning, learning becomes durable and transferable.
5. Open the Door to Regulated Public–Private Hybrid Learning
Government schools should not be isolated from innovation. Carefully structured Public– Private Partnerships—with clear accountability, pedagogical alignment, and public oversight—can bring high-quality digital tools, mentoring, and exposure into classrooms without compromising equity or public control.
The Larger National Lesson
Punjab’s initiative arrives at a critical national juncture. India speaks of demographic dividend, skilling, and innovation, yet continues to neglect early career alignment—the foundation on which all skill development rests. Without this foundation, higher education becomes misdirected and employability remains fragile.
What the Aam Aadmi Party–led Punjab Government has initiated is not merely an education programme; it is a governance statement—that public schools can be spaces of aspiration, insight, and dignity.
A Closing Reflection
The true test of an education system is not how many toppers it produces, but how many children understand themselves before the world demands decisions from them.
Punjab has shown the courage to ask the right question at the right time. If it now deepens, universalises, and institutionalises this reform, it will not just improve schools—it will redefine what government education can mean in India.
The blackboard taught generations what to think.Punjab now has the opportunity to teach its children how to choose.
December 20, 2025
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Raj Malhotra, Founder of Raj IAS Academy
manurajmalhotra@gmail.com
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