Staff Reporter
SHILLONG:
The Education department has as of date covered 25 per cent of schools in the state with vocational education and is eyeing to cover at least 50 per cent by 2025, as per the National Education Policy (NEP).
The NEP has made it compulsory that vocational education is an integral subject and it should be integrated into the basic curriculum in schools.
“We are looking forward and working towards it and by 2025 we hope that 50 per cent of schools in Meghalaya will be covered under it,” an Education department official said.
The implementation of vocational courses in Meghalaya schools started in 2017 with 10 government schools.
It was implemented as an additional subject starting in classes IX and X.
Students take it as an elective subject in XI and XII.
Till date there are around 163 schools which have introduced vocational courses and it has been implemented in government and government-aided schools.
The courses offered are tourism, healthcare, electronics, agriculture, beauty and wellness and recently they have added automotives, food production and sewing.
According to the state Education department, many students have done well and many are opting for vocational courses which have become popular.
“When we started there were just 500 students and now we are 11000 students strong,” the official said.
Over the years students and schools have accepted the subject and a lot of good practices have come over time.
During the lockdown period due to Covid-19, students have come up with innovations like a model of an automatic hand sanitiser dispenser, they have learnt how to assemble a basic drone, use of solar panels to lift water from wells to the fields.
There have also been budding entrepreneurs who have started their own businesses and are doing well.
In the future, the Education department is looking to integrate more courses which are aligned to the “Industrial Revolution 4.0” and which is mainly to be integrated with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and technology in every field whether its agriculture, electric vehicles in automotive or in food or in beauty and wellness.
“So we are trying to get more courses which are updated for the students so that they do well in life and become more skill-ready to be integrated into the world of work,” the official said.