India
Today: New Delhi: Thursday, 26 March 2015.
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 apathetic
approach. A Right to Information (RTI) query by non-governmental organization
Shikshak Parishad has revealed that it was 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. Education officers said the scheme will be revived after the SSC
exams are over.
"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", Anil
Bornare, who had filed the RTI application, said. Officials in charge of the
mission said the scheme was introduced in 2013-14 academic year but not
implemented. "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", state
project director Suvarna Kharat said.
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.
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