VIKAS SHARMA
JAMMU : Of total approved 1067 schools, 714 schools have implemented Vocational Education (Employment Oriented Education) in the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir under the flagship scheme Samagra Shiksha. The Samagra Shiksha’s proposed release for 2021-22 for the Financial Year (FY) for J&K UT was Rs 132021.74 lakh.
This was disclosed by the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan at Lok Sabha recently. In Ladakh UT, of the total 34 schools approved for Vocational Education, only 19 schools have implemented the same.
The newly created UT’s proposed Samagra Shiksha release was Rs 9999.72 lakh. Till date, 14435 schools have been approved for Vocational Education under Samagra Shiksha across the country. Out of these, 11710 schools have implemented the same so far.
Of total 28805 schools, 14824 are Primary, 9565 are Upper Primary, 3150 are Secondary and 1266 are Higher Secondary. Total enrollment in the schools is 2718644 whereas there are 167106 teachers.
Pertinently, the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha aims at integrating Vocational Education with general academic education in all Secondary/Senior Secondary schools; enhancing the Employability and Entrepreneurial abilities of the students, providing exposure to the working environment; and generating awareness amongst students about various career options to choose in accordance with their aptitude, competence and aspirations. The scheme covers Government and Government aided schools.
“The provision for Hub and Spoke Model has been made in Vocational Education. Under this model, the infrastructure available in the Hub schools is utilised by the students of nearby schools (spoke schools) for vocational training. Under the Hub and Spoke model initiated from this year, 139 Hub schools and 241 Spoke schools have been approved for the year 2021-22”, officials said.
“A total of 6316 Schools are approved for providing Exposure of Vocational Education to Upper Primary in the year 2021-22. The States submit proposals under the component of Vocationalisation of School Education as part of the Annual Work Plan and Budget of Samagra Shiksha which are considered by the Project Approval Board of Samagra Shiksha”, they added.
The erstwhile Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry (now Ministry of Education) in 2017 had implemented the scheme of Vocationalisation of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education as per the need of the schools and students across the country. Vocational education was to be imparted from Classes IX to XII in government secondary and higher secondary schools. The initiative was taken by the Central ministry to provide opportunities to school students in the field of vocational education, more job roles in various sectors needed to be identified.