Minister for Education Naeem Akhtar today called on the college administrations to turn their educational institutes into start-up breeder by counseling, guiding and training students in the skills that are both market relevant and entice the students too.The Minister said this while chairing a meeting to review arrangements for forthcoming exams and functioning of Government run colleges in Kashmir.The meeting was attended by Principals of Government Colleges and officials of Higher Education Department.The Minister said the Colleges need to re-invent themselves keeping in view the challenges faced by the society and needs of the students. He said the Government has already identified number of trades wherein students are being trained so that they become job creators when they leave their colleges.He said that herbal gardens, boutique technology, handicrafts training, papier mache, interior decoration, food technology are some of the trades which can be introduced in colleges.
“It is inspiring to note that the institutions like Government College for Women Nawakadal and Government College for Women Gandhi Nagar Jammu are successfully running skill development courses,” he said.On the occasion, the Minister was informed that a number of students have already benefited from these programmes in the Colleges where they have been introduced and some have attained national fame.He asked the College Principals to identify the locally relevant trades in their vicinity and start the respective courses in their colleges at the earliest. He said that colleges should not produce just a normal student but an entrepreneur. He promised all help from government in this regard.Mr. Akhtar directed the officials to construct a fish pond in Government Degree College Bemina for the training purposes. He also reviewed e-literacy programme being implemented in the Colleges. He said that it is imperative that every student and employee need to be e-literate in the modern world to progress.