Dharamshala, April 8 : Himachal Pradesh has emerged as a best performing state across the country in the education sector, state Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said on Friday. He was addressing a function organized on the occasion of inauguration of Delhi Public School, Tiara in district Kangra. He said Delhi Public School would go a long in imparting the quality education with modern aspects to the students. Delhi Public School is already imparting English medium co-education at Nathpa Jhakri and Manali. This would be the third school in the state. Chief Minister said presently there are 131 degree colleges, 1878 senior secondary schools, 931 high schools, 5 engineering colleges, 4 pharmacy colleges, 16 polytechnic colleges and 138 industrial training institutes in the state. For strengthening the education sector in the state, various steps have been taken, he added. Earlier, NK Singh, Chairman of Finance Commission of India, welcomed the Chief Minister and said that such institutions play a very significant role not only in transforming the local educational scenario but it is also linked with economic growth of the area. Speaker Vidhan Sabha, Vipin Singh Parmar, MP Kishan Kapoor, Chairman wool Federation Trilok Kapoor, Deputy Commissioner Dr. Nipun Jindal and SP Khushal Sharma were also present among others. XC GK