1.78L students empowered through Punjab’s Business Blasters Programme

The Punjab School Education Department has successfully trained over 5,000 lecturer-grade teachers from government senior secondary schools across the state as part of its flagship ‘Business Blasters’ programme. This initiative is set to benefit more than 1.78 lakh Grade 11 students, equipping them with essential entrepreneurial and 21st-century skills through experiential learning.

Harjot Singh Bains, the State School Education Minister, highlighted the programme aims to develop an entrepreneurial mindset among students, encouraging them to shift from being job seekers to job creators. By engaging students in hands-on business projects, the programme fosters critical skills such as creativity, problem-solving and critical thinking.

Launched by the Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann-led government, the ‘Business Blasters’ programme is an effort to empower Punjab’s youth and drive socio-economic growth. Through this initiative, the government is committed to nurturing a new generation of students equipped with the skills needed for the future.

The programme, which began as a pilot in November 2022, initially engaged 11,041 Class 11 students from 32 government senior secondary schools in nine districts. As part of the pilot phase, 3,032 students received seed funding of over Rs 60 lakh to support their business ideas. The programme’s success in the pilot phase led to a massive expansion, now covering all 1,920 government senior secondary schools across 23 districts in Punjab.

In the 2023-2024 academic year, the programme reached 7,813 teachers and 183,192 Class 11 students. A total of 138,676 students formed 19,989 teams to develop business ideas. From these teams, 52,050 students were selected to receive seed funding, demonstrating the programme’s broad appeal and impact.

The state government has allocated Rs 10.41 crore in seed money for young entrepreneurs. By October 1, Rs 9.38 crore had already been credited to the bank accounts of 46,910 students, with the remaining disbursements planned for completion soon.

Through this initiative, Punjab is reaffirming its commitment to empowering youth and preparing them for the future by nurturing entrepreneurship and life skills.