Teachers at the Residential School for Meritorious Students have made a public appeal for donations of interactive smart panels, saying an acute shortage of digital infrastructure is hampering online coaching under the Punjab Academic Coaching for Excellence (PACE) programme despite the school’s consistent success in competitive examinations.
Event Context
The school, which has over 850 students enrolled in Classes XI and XII across the medical, non-medical and commerce streams, currently has only four interactive smart panels for its 15 sections. While some classrooms are equipped with conventional projectors, teachers said these are inadequate for the specialised online teaching required under the PACE programme, which prepares students for competitive examinations such as NEET and JEE.
Principal Satwant Kaur said interactive panels function as advanced Android-based smart boards that allow teachers to write, draw diagrams and explain concepts during live online classes. “This makes learning much more interactive and effective,” she said.
Of the four interactive panels currently available, two were provided by the Education Department and the remaining two by the Meritorious Society. The school has formally sought four additional panels from the department, particularly as online coaching classes for commerce students are set to begin shortly.
Appealing for community support, teacher Mandeep Kaur urged philanthropists, corporate organisations and social groups to come forward and help bridge the infrastructure gap.
Match Outlook
“The interactive panels are extremely helpful, particularly for science students attending online coaching sessions. If someone or any organisation could donate even one or two panels, it would make a significant difference for our students,” she said.
The appeal comes even as the school continues to post strong academic results. This year, 18 students from the institution qualified for the NEET examination, underscoring the potential of its students and the need to strengthen digital teaching facilities.
Repeated attempts to contact district education officer (secondary) Dimple Madan for a response remained unsuccessful.
Teachers said equipping every classroom with interactive smart panels would ensure uninterrupted online learning and enable students to derive the maximum benefit from the PACE programme.
