The students of Government schools from Class XI will now be able to get vocational education from the next academic session. In a move aimed at making education oriented to the demands of the job market, the Education department is going to introduce two vocational courses including automobile and information technology in its 11 Government Inter-colleges from the next academic session, on a pilot basis.
More streams would be introduced in the years to come, said Uttarakhand Education Minister Mantri Prasad Naithani while talking to The Pioneer on Thursday.
Naithani said that the education department has introduced such courses, based on infrastructure availability in the schools and proximity to industry. The technical skill will be taught alongside other subjects in these schools.
“The vocationalisation of secondary education would go a long way in building a bridge between the enormous unemployed manpower and needs of the job market,” he added.
The Minister said that under the framework, various domains have been identified for implementation in Government schools starting from class XI from the academic session 2014-2015, which includes automobile Technology and Information Technology. These courses will be introduced as a pilot project and later other vocation courses based on local needs will also be introduced in various Government schools of the State.
“The re-orientation of secondary education to include vocational training is the “demand of the time” and it would allow structured training and certification in skills that have a huge market,” the Minister added.
After completion of this course, students would have multiple choices in their career. They may either continue in higher education or move into the job market.
Earlier, after passing out their Class XII, students enter the job market without any skills, which results in them being underpaid. These two vocational courses will be boon for those students who could not continue their higher education due to financial constraints.
These courses had been introduced after discussions with industries on availability of jobs. The competency based curriculum package would consist of syllabus, student manual, trainers guide, training manual, teacher qualifications and multimedia packages and e-material to facilitate the successful implementation of the courses, he added.
Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan state project joint director Mahavir Singh Bisht said that these two vocational courses will be introduced at 11 different schools including four government inter colleges in Udham Singh Nagar, four in Dehradun and three in Haridwar.
In Udham Singh Nagar, government inter colleges are GIC Sitarganj, GIC Rudrapur, GIC Mahukheda and Government Girls Inter College Pantnagar.
In Dehradun, schools are GIC Selaqui, GIC Herbertpur, GIC Gujrara, GGIC Rajpur while in Haridwar, schools are GIC BHEl, GGIC Jwalapur and GIC Roorkee.
Each school will be given seven lakh for establishing laboratory and other necessary equipments related to these courses. There will be 20 seats in each course in these colleges. Text books will be prepared in consultation with Centre Institute of Vocational Education, Bhopal.
Two teachers of these schools were given training recently in CIVE, Bhopal conducted by SCERT, lucknow. The students who would enroll in these two vocation courses will be trained in SIDCUl Selaqui, Haridwar, Pantnagar, Sitarganj. IT training would be imparted by those already teaching in schools and automobile through the staff of Industrial Training Centres will be recruited through outsourcing.
Rohit, a student of GIC Gujrara said, “I am fascinated by automobiles and wanted to study further on their workings, so I think the automobile technology course will help me.”
Observers opined that vocational courses are the need of the hour. “Vocational training will help the students in acquiring practical skills which will later help them in seeking a job. It’s beneficial for those students who are focused on what they want to do at an early age.