Counselling for vocational skills lacks education department push

PUNE: The state government's scheme for career counselling in vocational skill sets has failed to reach thousands of students due to the education department’s lackadaisical approach.
Introduced last year for students who pass secondary school certificate (SSC, standard X) examination, as many as 17 districts in the state including Pune have not been able to take advantage of the scheme, a Right to Information (RTI) query by non-governmental organization Shikshak Parishad has revealed.
A budget of Rs 2.22 crore has been set aside for the scheme in the state, but it has hardly reached any students. Education officers said the scheme will be revived after the SSC exams are over.
Anil Bornare, who had filed the RTI application, said, “As many as 17 lakh students appear for the SSC exam every year and just one per cent of these students chose to consult counsellors for career choices and vocational education options. The scheme was introduced under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyaan but it has not reached students in one year.”
Officials in charge of the mission said the scheme was introduced in 2013-14 academic year but not implemented the following year. State project director Suvarna Kharat said, “In 2013-14 the scheme was implemented in 19 districts but some failed to utilise the funds provided for this scheme. These districts have returned the unutilized amount to the state education department.”
“Every child has the potential to develop self-understanding which includes understanding of abilities, interests, behaviours, attitudes, values, conflicts, anxieties, likes, dislikes, impulses / emotions, goals, one’s role in society among other things. The initiative is very good, but the government has failed to implement it effectively,” said Bornare.
The scheme was introduced by the Union ministry of human resource and development to help retention of students, better scholastic performance in curricular areas, adjustment and career development of students, development of right attitude towards studies, and importantly choosing the right field after SSC.
Some urban and semi-urban regions in the state including Mumbai, Nashik, Kolhapur, Satara, Nagpur, Ratnagiri, Aurangabad among others implemented the scheme effectively while Pune, Parbhani, Dhule, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Jalna did not implement the scheme.