Punjab official's message also included a schedule of social media activities for the teachers (File).
The urge to be more aggressive on social media ahead of 2022 assembly election seems to have compelled the Congress-led Punjab government to engage its government school teachers on online platforms.
Punjab ranked top across the country in the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2019-20, released by the Centre a few days back.
To celebrate this, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh held a live interaction with the school teachers and congratulated them for the achievement. But the live interaction, which was streamed live on the chief minister's social media page, earned more dislikes than likes.
On the same day, State Education Secretary Krishan Kumar asked the district education officers to be more proactive on social media.
"You have to like, share and comment on the Facebook page of our school activities department. Also share and like the old posts," read a message by Mr Kumar, shared on one of the WhatsApp groups of district education officers. The message also included a district-wise schedule of social media activities for the teachers.
The move, however, earned backlash from the opposition parties. Earlier too, the government had faced criticism for passing similar orders.
As the state goes to polls, the Congress-led Punjab government is also trying to counter the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government's narrative on improving health and education sector.
On the recent achievement, Punjab Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla said the AAP-led Delhi government should learn from Punjab to efficiently implement the school education model.
Similarly, State Health Minister Balbir Sidhu, who was under fire for "vaccine-selling controversy" and is also facing allegations of corruption in procuring 'Fateh' kits, has also shot back at AAP.
"How could the Delhi government purchase same oximeter from various firms at different prices, whereas the Punjab government has been providing Corona "fateh kits" to patients at very low price of Rs 883, which included 19 items such as digital thermometer, steamer, pulse oximeter, hand sanitizer (500 ML), facemask three ply and all essential medicines," he said.
Meanwhile, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has also targeted the Punjab government over the Performance Grading Index announcement.
"Punjab's government schools are in a miserable state. To hide Amarinder Singh's failure, PM (Narendra) Modi issued a report saying Punjab schools are outstanding. This shows 'jugalbandi' (nexus) between the two leaders; Captain sahab has shut 800 government schools in the last 2-3 years," news agency ANI quoted him as saying.