Taking a leap towards strengthening the vocational education ecosystem in Jammu and Kashmir, Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha today e-inaugurated 607 Vocational Labs, Vocational Education Portal and GIS Portal developed by Samagra Shiksha, J&K.Speaking on the occasion, the Lt Governor observed that important features of New Educational Policy have been initiated in J&K which will pave a strong foundation for Job Oriented Education for the youth. The emphasis on Vocational Education, as per NEP-2020, is to enable students to be Job providers instead of Job Seekers, he added. “Comprehensive measures are being taken with an aim to improve the quality of education and secure the future of youth by bridging the gap between schools and industry keeping in mind the skill-set demands of the modern times”, said the Lt Governor. The Lt Governor stressed on the need to incorporate new skill sets, innovative activities, and vocational training into school education curriculum to ensure a greater industry-academic relationship.Highlighting the key benefits of the Vocational Education, the Lt Governor said that the Vocational Education aims to overhaul the entire ecosystem of school education and can go a long way to help the youth orient themselves to the changing dynamics of job-market trends.The Lt Governor observed that all the possibilities would be explored to develop vocational education in J&K through a collaborated effort with schools and higher institutions of skill development.
Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to the Lt Governor, while speaking on the occasion said that the vocational education in the Vocational labs would play a great role in developing the required skill set in a variety of trades from an early age among the students.He emphasized on rationalizing the infrastructural and human resources in school education department.He informed that the Vocational Education Portal has been developed to monitor and supervise, assess and evaluate progress of students & Vocational training partners, besides maintaining data base of pass out students.Giving a detailed briefing of the measures taken to promote Vocational Education in J&K, Sh. BK Singh, Secretary, School Education informed that Vocational Education has been introduced in 715 Government Schools with total enrolment of 44,000. Vocational Education is being provided in 14 vocational trades through Vocational training partners provided by National Skill Development Corporation.He said that the tradition of teaching and learning process in J&K is of supreme quality and even during the COVID times, a large number of students and teachers continued their education through the online mode and community classes.He further informed that a special drive will be started from March 2021 to increase enrolment in the schools.Dr. Arun Manhas, Project Director, Samagra Shiksha informed that GIS Portal has been developed in collaboration with National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology, to identify Geographical location of Educational institutions and un-served habitations. The Portal is to be used as an MIS tool for viewing infrastructure details, enrollment details, ICT facilities, smart classroom facilities, Vocational labs, resource rooms etc.Prof. Veena Pandita, Chairperson, JKBOSE and Ms. Anuradha Gupta, Director School Education Jammu; Sh. Mohammad Younis Malik, Director School Education, Kashmir; large number of teachers and students of various schools attended the inaugural ceremony in person and through virtual mode.