Punjab Expands Business Blasters Program To 1,920 Government Schools

The Punjab government has expanded the Business Blasters Program to all 1,920 government senior secondary schools across the state to establish a strong foundation for young minds to evolve into future job creators.

The government, under Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, had launched the program in November 2022 on lines of the similar Business Blasters Program run by the Delhi government.

This initiative aims to equip students with the necessary skills to thrive as entrepreneurs and contribute to the state's economic growth, according to an official release.

The initiative, part of the Young Entrepreneurs Programme Scheme, aims to equip students with practical business skills and real-world entrepreneurial experience. This initiative is aimed at empowering students to become job creators, and fostering a new generation of innovators.

Initially piloted in select schools, the program has already demonstrated remarkable success, according to the Punjab government.

With comprehensive financial support, mentorship, and hands-on training, the program empowers a new generation of leaders poised to drive economic growth and social progress in Punjab, the release said.

The program began with 11,041 students from 32 government senior secondary schools across nine districts. It is designed to provide secondary-level students with a hands-on entrepreneurship experience, including a seed grant of Rs 2,000 for each selected student.

After evaluating their business ideas, 52,050 students, now in the 12th grade, were selected from an initial pool of around 75,000 participants for seed funding. The government has already disbursed Rs 10.4 crore, with Rs 9.38 crore credited to 46,910 students so far. State Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains assured that the remaining funds would be distributed in the coming days.

In a significant expansion, the program will now reach all 1,920 government senior secondary schools across Punjab, impacting over 1.83 lakh students and engaging more than 7,800 teachers, as per the release.

The response has been overwhelming, with 1.38 lakh students already registering for the current academic year, it added.