A new dawn has arrived on the land of Punjab. AAP’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal is these days touring Punjab with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and introducing the public to a historic achievement. During this tour, the chemistry between Kejriwal and Mann is amazing to watch. Both leaders together are bringing such an education revolution in Punjab that has become an example for the entire country. Where earlier youth had to wander in search of jobs, now the Bhagwant Mann government has taken such a decision that will turn every student from a job seeker into a job giver.
The Punjab government has launched the country’s first mandatory “Entrepreneurship Mindset Course (EMC)”. From the academic session 2025-26, this course has started in 20 universities, 320 ITIs and 91 polytechnics of the state. The biggest thing – this course is completely mandatory for all students of BBA, B.Tech and B.Voc. Now 1.5 lakh students will not just study, but will learn by doing real business. By 2028-29, this number will increase to 9 lakh. Punjab has become the first state in the entire country where entrepreneurship education has been made mandatory on such a large scale.
This course does not give just bookish knowledge. Every student will have to start their own real business or service in every semester and achieve fixed revenue targets. In the first semester, the student will have to set up their business and earn ₹10,000. In the second semester, learning marketing and earning ₹40,000, in the third handling operations and earning ₹80,000, in the fourth ₹1,60,000 and by the fifth semester, with AI and finance mastery, the target has been set to earn up to ₹4,00,000. For ITI students, the target is ₹40,000 in the first year and ₹80,000 in the second year. That means big earnings along with studies!
The Bhagwant Mann government has left no stone unturned in implementing this course. Master Union has been made the government’s official partner. An AI-powered multilingual platform (Punjabi, Hindi, English) has been prepared which will give students the facility of planning, dashboard, mentorship and peer interaction. Students can choose from many tracks like E-commerce, Content Creation, Freelancing, Professional Services, Retail. This is not just a course, but a complete ecosystem that has been prepared to make every student a successful entrepreneur.
During Kejriwal and Mann’s Punjab tour, tremendous enthusiasm is being seen in universities and colleges. So far more than 40 orientation sessions have been held and the response from students has been excellent. The academic councils of 20 universities have already approved this course. Along with government universities, Lovely Professional University, Chitkara University, GNA University and DAV Universities have also praised this initiative tremendously and have actively implemented it.
For this ambitious scheme, a working group was formed in May 2025 which included Vice Chancellors of Punjabi University Patiala, Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar, IK Gujral Punjab Technical University Kapurthala, Sardar Beant Singh State University Gurdaspur, Guru Kashi University Bathinda and Sant Baba Bhag Singh University Jalandhar. Experts like Start Up Mission CEO, Innovation Punjab CEO and Master Union founder Pratham Mittal together designed this course.
In June 2025, the government issued an official advisory instructing all universities that from 2025-26, this 2 credit course should be started mandatorily in every semester. This is just the beginning – in the coming years it will be further expanded in a phased manner. Punjab’s model is now becoming an inspiration for the entire country. Many other states are also preparing to adopt this model.
The economic impact of this initiative will also be very big. It is estimated that by 2028-29, that is in the next four years, student ventures will generate “revenue of ₹78,600 crores” which is about 9% of Punjab’s GDP and 50% of the state’s annual budget. This is not just numbers, but a guarantee of the bright future of Punjab’s youth. Kejriwal said that this is a big change from degree-focused education to entrepreneurship-driven education in line with the vision of NEP 2020.
This initiative of the Bhagwant Mann government proves that when intentions are good and there is honesty in work, then revolution does come. This pair of Kejriwal and Mann is proving to be a blessing for Punjab. After Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party is now waving the flag of education revolution in Punjab too. In the coming time, every youth of Punjab will not be just a job seeker, but will become a job creator. This is the dream of real self-reliant India that the Bhagwant Mann government has proved at the ground level.
