After its success in the feb exam, govt has taken up the project
ranjeet singh jamwal
ranjeetsjamwal@gmail.com
Chandigarh, 15 July 
The brainchild of a Punjab government school teacher and Punjab government project ~ “Udaan” ~ conceived to improve the general knowledge of students in rural areas has boosted their dreams of clearing national level competitive examinations, where usually urban students are believed to have an edge.
Introduced primarily at a government school in Benera village, Sangrur district in 2012, the project’s success has led to it being implemented from today at 870 government senior secondary, high and middle schools of the state. 
Under the project, students between Classes IV and XII are taught 10 G.K. questions daily.
“Udaan” started in September 2012 when a mathematics teacher at a government school at Benera village, Mr Devi Dayal, thought of updating the general awareness of his students to enable them to compete with students of CBSE affiliated schools, and to ensure that they never faced problems while appearing for competitive examinations in the future.
In his efforts, Mr Dayal was joined by two other teachers ~ Ms Neeru Gupta and Mr Faqir Singh. The trio started by framing 10 questions across a variety of subjects and then pasted them on notice boards around school.
As soon as it became popular within the students of his school, schools in the neighbourhood soon participated in the effort and by and by, "Udaan" became a part of the academics.
Schools were sent questions via e-mail and they did their own follow-ups. Following the initial success, two exams were conducted ~ one in December 2012 and another in February 2013. Over 7,000 students took the February exam. While everyone passed i, the girls performed exceptionally well.
With its increasing success, "Udaan" has now been adopted by the state government. Punjab Education Minister Sikandar Singh Maluka said the project is being replicated across the state. The three teachers continue to play a prominent role in the project as coordinators. They are required to send 10 questions daily to the schools by noon, helping the students practice 900 questions in one session.