Govt mulling apprenticeship policy for students of technical institutes: CM
Shimla, June 11
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today said that the state government was mulling a policy to offer a one-year apprenticeship course in various government departments to the students of technical and vocational institutions.
Centre of excellence for differently abled to come up at Kandaghat
- The Chief Minister emphasised the importance of integrating pre-nursery schools with anganwari centres for better management and improved facilities for children
- He said that a model state-level de-addiction centre would be established at Kotla Barog in Sirmaur district and a centre of excellence at Tikkari in Kandaghat of Solan district to provide educational facilities to about 300 multi-disabled students
- The Chief Minister directed the Social Justice and Empowerment Department to ensure timely completion of the Mukhya Mantri Adarsh Gram Sukhashray Parisar at Luthan in Kangra district and Sundernagar in Mandi district within one and a half years
Sukhu, while presiding over the meeting of the Technical Education Department here, directed the department concerned to evolve a mechanism to regulate and monitor private institutions providing technical and vocational education in the state. Of the total of 364 technical and vocational educational institutions in the state, 184 are private.
The Chief Minister also directed the Technical Education Department to explore the possibilities of integrating ITIs and polytechnic colleges into a single campus to streamline resources and improve efficiency.
He also ordered the department to explore industry-oriented and job-providing new age courses in order to offer better placement opportunities to youth. “A state-level cell will be established for monitoring the requirement of skills required in the industries and available trained manpower,” he said.
Sukhu said that the department had imparted training to 1,077 faculty members in various reputed institutions to stay abreast with the latest teaching methods and technologies in their respective fields. Technical Education Minister Rajesh Dharmani gave suggestions to improve the standards of education.
The Chief Minister also reviewed various schemes and ongoing projects of the Social Justice and Empowerment Department here. He directed officials concerned to ensure timely completion of the Mukhya Mantri Adarsh Gram Sukhashray Parisar at Luthan in Kangra district and Sundernagar in Mandi district within one and a half years.
He instructed the department to commence civil works at Luthan before July 20 with an allocated budget of Rs 132 crore. The facility at Luthan is designed to accommodate 400 persons.
Sukhu said that the Mukhya Mantri Adarsh Gram Sukhashray Parisar at Sundernagar in Mandi district which would provide facilities to orphans, widows, single women and elderly persons. He directed the officials to ensure quality construction work in both projects to offer world-class facilities to the beneficiaries.
Sukhu said that a provision of up to Rs 3,000 per month would be made for orphans pursuing higher education in case of non-availability of hostel facilities. He instructed the Social Justice Department to focus on providing career counselling to orphaned children, guiding them towards job-oriented courses and formulate standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the purpose.
He said that under the scheme, every child of an eligible widow or ‘Ekal Nari’ up to the age of 27 would be entitled to receive a monthly stipend of Rs 1,000 and all eligible children aged 18 to 27 years would be offered free higher education.
Sukhu also directed the department to strengthen the Indira Gandhi Matri Shishu Sankalp Yojana, which provides nutritional support to expectant mothers, lactating mothers and children up to the age of three. He directed the department to explore the possibility of providing dry fruits instead of cooked ‘khichari’ to children in anganwari centres to meet their protein requirements.
