Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has instructed the officials of the education department to include vocational education in school curriculum, with one trade related to One District One Product (ODOP), the flagship scheme of the state government.
The CM said that it is necessary to include vocational education at every level in school education. “Trades should be determined keeping in view the local demand and requirements. The focus should be on service, manufacturing and agriculture sectors. One trade in each school should be related to the product selected under ODOP,” he said.
An official spokesman said on Wednesday that the New Education Policy 2020 has marked a revolutionary change in the education industry, shifting the focus from certificate and degree-based to learning and skill-based education.
He said that through vocational education at school level, elaborate efforts will be made to fill skill gaps.
“The government is focused on equipping the youth of the state with employable and entrepreneurial skills so that they are able to cope with a changing world and also become active agents of positive changes,” he said.
The CM intends to include the ODOP of each district in their schools as a trade so that the students develop their skills in the manufacturing of these products. This will serve two purposes. First, the state will have a skilled resource. Secondly, the indigenous products under ODOP will get a major boost with better quality and innovation with the youth taking up the profession.
In this regard, under the Skill Development Mission Programme, a project for the development of job ready skills through vocational training would be given in joint collaboration with the secondary education department and Uttar Pradesh Skill Development Mission. Free certification courses would be conducted every working day during the school hours.
Along with schools, as per the requirement of the ODOP on behalf of Directorate of Training and Employment, courses will be started in ITIs of every district of the state. Through this, the youth will be trained on the basis of the product industry of the district.
Students will be able to get jobs by doing apprenticeships in the same industry and will also be able to start their own work. The scheme will start from this academic session.