Bhubaneswar: At a time when unemployment in the country is at a 45-year high and highly educated youths are underemployed, vocational training seems indispensable. At least the Union Human Resource Development ministry seemed to have that in their mind when they had started a skill development programme under which all the states were directed to impart vocational training in their secondary and higher secondary curriculum.
As per the reports, Odisha had included vocational training in its school curriculum in 2016-17 academic year. However, out of around 5,000 schools, such training has been introduced only in 576 schools where students are being imparted training on various skills ranging from IT to agriculture. These facts came up when the Ministry of HRD (MHRD) reviewed the status of implementation of vocational training in Odisha. A two-day Regional Consultation Meeting-Cum-Workshop on Vocationalisation of Education in Schools was organized by the Ministry of HRD in Bhubaneswar in collaboration with Odisha School Education Programme Authority (OSEPA) from January 16 to 17.
Though, the programme has been introduced in only a handful of government-run schools, the delegation from MHRD praised the state government for its efforts. Even the OSEPA is quite hopeful of enrolling all the government schools of Odisha in the programme soon.
Chiranjeev Guha, an official of MHRD said, “The Central government has a provision to provide lab facilities in the schools. The students, who complete the two-year vocational course, get a certificate.”
Shedding more light on the workshop, State Project Director of OSEPA, Bhupendra Singh Punia said, “14 states participated in the workshop and brainstormed on the ways to improve the vocationalisation of education in the country.”
The Assistant Director of OSEPA, Ashok Patnaik said, “The primary goal of vocational training is to create employability among students who pass out from school/college.”