Ved: Academic-Vocational Combo For School Dropouts

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The state government will impart vocational training to school dropouts to provide them jobs. It will also help them resume their education.

The scheme for the training has been named VED (Vocational Education for Dropouts) and will be implemented from the current academic session in June. VED will initially be launched in three Assembly constituencies in the state - Ujjain Dakshin in Ujjain district, Gadarwara in Narsinghpur and Sarangpur in Rajgarh.

It is meant for students who have dropped out from school after Class 8. The two-year course under the scheme will be in a hybrid mode - with both academic and vocational components. At the end of the course, the students will clear Class 9 and 10 and also earn a certificate in one of the eight vocations.

The MP State Open School will be the implementing agency for the scheme. “We will be adopting a Hub and Spoke model,” Open School director PK Tiwari said, adding, “the scheme was conceptualised by skill development department secretary Raghuram Rajendran.”  

Eight vocational courses including plumbing, masonry, electrical repairing, fabric designing, refrigeration and air conditioning (RAC) and electrical vehicles (EV) repairing will be run under the scheme.  Eight labs, one for each course, will be set up at Saikheda, a town near Gadarwara - where the students will be sent for practical training.

A 100-seater hostel equipped with a mess will be set up at Saikheda for accommodating the students. The theory classes, both academic and vocational, will be online, which the students will attend from schools to which they will be admitted. They will study three subjects related to the vocation they have chosen and two academic subjects.