Chandigarh, Feb 4 (IANS): Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday flagged off the first batch of 36 government school principals visiting Singapore for upgrading their professional knowledge and expertise in the field of education.

Interacting with the delegation here, the Chief Minister gave a clarion call to the teachers for becoming the torchbearers of the education revolution being witnessed in the state since last 10 months.

He said this first-of-its-kind initiative by the government is part of the state scheme for teachers' foreign training cleared by the Cabinet on Friday and aims at ensuring the professional skills of the teaching fraternity is enhanced, so that they can deliver best education to the students.

Mann said the sole aim of this step is to enable the students of the government schools to compete with their convent-educated peers and excel in life.

The Chief Minister reiterated that teachers are the nation-builders who can uplift the level of education, so the government has decided to upgrade their teaching skills by ensuring quality training to them.

Mann said as a part of this guarantee, first batch of 36 government school principals are going to Singapore for professional training.

The principals will be participating in a Professional Teacher Training seminar from February 6-10.