Govt schools to impart vocational education from next academic year

The School Education department which chalked a plan for introduction of vocational courses has asked the district educational officers to propose six schools in each district.

Hyderabad: More government-run schools will impart vocational education from the next academic year.

The School Education department which chalked a plan for introduction of vocational courses has asked the district educational officers to propose six schools in each district. The select schools from either of ZPHS, government high schools, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas and Telangana State Residential Educational Institutions Society will be imparting both regular academics and vocational education under the Samagra Shiksha of the union government.

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Currently, 431 schools including 194 Model Schools, 135 ZP and GHS, 66 KGBVs, 14 TSREIS and 22 spoke schools are offering vocational education in the trades such electronics, IT-ITeS, apparels, agriculture, plumbing, beauty and wellness, and tourism and hospitality.

These courses are being offered for students of Class IX and X and apart from hands-on training, students have to appear for the examinations conducted by the Directorate of Government Examinations.

The trades will be introduced in the schools that have highest enrollment for the academic year 2023-24 besides having at least one additional room for establishment of a permanent vocational lab.

To ensure industrial visits and internships, the schools will be introducing the trades in accordance with availability of industries in the district. Further, the select schools will be turned into Hub schools for nearby schools in future for facilitating vocational education.

The proposed schools for vocational education will be put before the Project Approval Board (PAB) of Samagra Shiksha meeting which is scheduled to be held in the February. The PAB will be approving vocational schools for two academic years i.e., 2024-25 and 2025-26, officials said.

Survey to identify ‘Out of School Children’ in Telangana

A survey to identify out of school children in the State is being conducted to identify the number of children who never enrolled in the schools or drop outs in the age group of 6-14 years and 15-19 years.

On the basis of the survey, the net enrollment ratio and gross enrollment ratio will be arrived at for the academic year 2024-25 besides necessary interventions to ensure that all out of school children are enrolled.

The cluster resource persons and DLMTs have been tasked to conduct the survey by visiting the schools and door-to-door. A child will be considered a dropout if he/she is absent continuously for 30 days.