Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has decided to include pre-vocational training for students of Class VI to VIII from January 2023.
The pre-vocational education will be conducted by the School and Mass Education department where they will be trained in various trades.
The Odisha School Education Programme Authority (OSEPA) has prepared a module for pre-vocational exposure under which, there will be 10 days of bagless activities in an academic year.
The students will be given hands-on training, and lectures and taken for industry visits among other things.
The module will be launched under Samagra Shiksha, which is a centrally-sponsored scheme of vocationalisation of school education and strengthening teaching-learning and results for states program (STARS) funded by the World Bank.
Notably, eleven trades – agriculture, food processing, tourism and hospitality, plumbing, electronics and hardware, IT, apparel and beauty and wellness – have been included in the module.
The students will also be trained in the art and crafts of their respective districts.
Director of OSEPA Anupam Saha said the purpose of starting pre-vocational education among the students of classes VI to VIII is to motivate them towards vocational courses so that by the time they reach class IX, they can choose which vocational trade they want to pursue in their higher grades.
While under Samagra Shiksha, 100 schools across all districts have been identified for implementation of pre-vocational education, the number is 600 under the WBB-STARS programme.
Currently, students of Class IX to XII in government schools are pursuing vocational courses as a compulsory (elective) subject.
For the pre-vocational training, Rs 10 lakh has been released by the government for all districts under Samagra Shiksha and Rs 84 lakh under WB-STARS programme. The step is being taken to align the school education with the National Education Policy-2022.
