The project Praveen will be implemented in government schools across 75 districts of the state (Representational/File)On the occasion of Teachers’ Day, the Secondary Education Department and Skill Development Mission of the UP government on Monday signed an MoU to implement a programme under which 21,000 students of classes 9 and 11 will be given vocational training in eight different sectors, including agriculture, apparel, automotive, beauty and wellness, IT-Ites, physical education, power and retail. It aims to provide job-oriented vocational training along with academic education.
The project Praveen – Project for Re-enforcing Academic excellence by Vocational Education and Entrepreneurship Nurturing – will be implemented in government schools across 75 districts in the state.
As per the MoU, the aim is to train 280 students per district for a span of two years initially. One private training partner will be engaged per school — 140 students of boys high school and 140 students of girls high school, said an official, adding students will be given 200 hours of vocational training in 15 months.
“Now, learning skills can be a part of the universal academic curriculum with Secondary Education Certificates as well as Skill Development Certificate,” an official said.
According to the official, the programme will be implemented on a pilot basis in 206 schools, including 56 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas in the state in the current session. “If the experiment becomes successful, the programme will be rolled out in all secondary education schools of the state government from the forthcoming session,” the official added.
During the programme, the Secondary Education Department will have the responsibility to ensure the attendance of students and trainers and update the Skill Development Mission about attendance. A nodal officer will be appointed in each school for supervision. Monitoring and supervision by nodal officers will also be done also at the level of district headquarters, divisional headquarters and the state government.
The Skill Development Mission will equip the classrooms and make available necessary equipment and trainers through Private Training Partner (PTP). The Mission will also conduct an examination after the end of the vocational training programme and provide the certificate to students, the official said.