Parents holding the pamphets during the meetings in Punjab government schools (Express photo/Special arrangement).Pamphlets advertising the populist schemes of the AAP-led Punjab government were distributed to over 20 lakh parents who attended the ‘Mega Parent Teacher Meeting’ (PTM) across government schools Saturday.The four-page pamphlet titled ‘Shaandar 4 Saal, Bhagwant Mann de naal’ (Four glorious years with Bhagwant Mann), apart from the government’s achievements in the education sector, also highlighted the free Tirath Yatra scheme, free power, Gangsteran tey Vaar and Yuddh Nasheyaan Viruddh drives of Punjab Police, Rs 10 lakh CM health insurance cover scheme, Maawan Dheeyan Satkar Yojana (Rs 1,000 for each woman), Rs 1 crore ex gratia for families of martyrs, among others.The pamphlets were distributed in government schools, as Punjab goes for the 2027 Assembly polls in less than a year.Teachers said that they were directed to distribute the printed publicity material to each parent who attended the PTM. The government had termed Saturday’s PTM as “Sikhiya da Maha Jashan” to celebrate Punjab’s top rank in the NITI Aayog report on school education.In a statement, the Democratic Teachers Front (DTF), led by Digvijay Pal Sharma, said the government has turned teachers into AAP publicists.“The education department bureaucracy is now using the parent-teacher meetings for advertising. Pamphlets praising the Punjab government have been handed over to school heads, and orders have been issued to distribute them among the parents and praise the government,” said DTF president Sharma.“The Punjab government is claiming that according to the NITI Aayog survey, Punjab has become the number one state in the education sector, while the reality is that about 1,150 posts of principals and 750 posts of head teachers, as well as about 150 posts of block primary education officers, are lying vacant,” said Sharma.Story continues below this adDTF press secretary Rajwinder Baihniwal questioned the state government’s policy of self-promotion. “The Punjab government is claiming to build 45,000 boundary walls and 12,000 new toilets, while the reality is that the state government has only contributed its share in the grant being released under the Centre’s SAMAGRA scheme, which is the duty of every state government. The Punjab government had already inaugurated or laid foundation stones for buildings constructed in schools, the burden of which also fell on teachers’ pockets. The money of the taxpayers was being ruthlessly looted only for publicity and advertisement,” he said. Parents and teachers holding the pamphlets during the meetings in Punjab government schools (Express photo/Special arrangement).Meanwhile, in a statement, the Punjab government said that it celebrated “its meteoric rise to the top of the national education rankings by holding Mega PTM across 19,000 government schools.”Divulging the details of ‘Sikhiya Da Maha Jashan’, Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains said that the grand event marks Punjab’s No. 1 ranking in NITI Aayog’s School Education Quality Report 2026, where it surpassed Kerala, long considered India’s gold standard in school education, on key foundational learning metrics.Bains informed that teachers and non-teaching staff were felicitated for their relentless efforts. Outstanding students, including board exams toppers, achievers of the English Edge Programme and JEE qualifiers, received special recognition and certificates.Story continues below this adBains said that over 20 lakh parents attended the Mega PTM and parents’ workshop. The grand event focused on summer learning continuity, holiday homework management, and building positive routines to support their children’s learning during the summer holidays.To ensure high-quality implementation of the grand event, all teachers and school heads were trained through a live YouTube session. Trained facilitators and active school management committees supported parent mobilisation, coordination and on-ground execution of the activities, he added.