Governor Bandaru Dattatraya stressed on setting up 'Umbrella Body' in the state for education, skill, technical knowledge and innovation so that better results could be achieved in close coordination of all line departments.
While presiding over a high-level meeting held at Raj Bhawan, today for education and skill development, the Governor said that a lot of work was being done in Himachal Pradesh for skill development. But, he observed that lack of mutual coordination among all departments working in skills. He said that the professional courses being promoted in the state were in demand out of the state.
Expressing concern, he said, “Children do not go out of the state after doing these courses and their knowledge cannot be also utilised in the state. Besides that, the established industrial houses in the state cannot find the kind of manpower and business skills they required, which means we are not able to give such training to our children.”
He said that such a framework could be drawn by mutual coordination which would not only reduce the skill development gap but also would help in solving the problem of rising unemployment to a great extent. He said that this would also help the government in making policy decisions and helpful in providing more funds from the central government to the state for this task. He stressed the need to create an integrated strategy for it, for which everyone's views, cooperation, experience and contribution was necessary.
Shri Dattatraya said that it was an era of global competition. It is pertinent to observe that ability to access global Opportunities of exchange depends on how well-equipped educationally, professionally and skill-wise the workers are to take advantage of new opportunities, he added. He said that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's vision of "Skill India" and "Make in India" was a commendable step in this direction. But, this could only be possible when our young generation has the necessary skills to achieve fast-growing economy, he added. He further said that our children have positive energy, enthusiasm, innovation and have the potential to contribute extensively in socio-economic development and therefore, they should be put forward in building the economy and that it should be our main agenda.
The Governor said that our education should be employment-oriented and one gets employment that has skills. He said that by creating an infrastructure problem could not be solved, but we have to go to its basic level.
“New education the policy is an effective step in this direction. It envisages a new India with six important points which include value education, employment education, competitive education, innovation, feasibility and mobility.
Shri Suresh Bhardwaj, Education Minister said that Himachal Pradesh has a distinct identity in the field of education across the country. He said that the state's literacy rate was second only to Kerala and after excluding migrant workers, however, the state's literacy rate, was around 97 per cent. The state has also been awarded the Best Performing State Award for better work in the field of education, he added. He said that the state government was now paying special attention to qualitative education. He said that there were many reasons which affect the quality of education, efforts were being made to overcome it.
He said that by adding knowledge, skills and employment, now education was being given a new direction, for which efforts were being made to make an integrated system. He added that employment potential could be increased by co-ordinating education with skills and for this, several steps have been taken at the departmental level.
In a key theme address, Principal Advisor to Governor Prof. (Dr) B.H. Briz Kishore emphasized to increase employment prospects by developing skills at the local level, which would also strengthen the economy. He said that there was a huge potential for fruit and vegetable marketing in the State. “We are not able to exploit hydropower capacity extensively. Skills are not available according to the requirement of the industries”, he said and stressed on transforming challenges into possibilities. He said that education was not only knowledge but it was creating and sustaining the knowledge useful in social and economic development. He also gave detailed information through power point presentation.
Earlier, Secretary to the Governor Rakesh Kanwar welcomed all dignitaries and gave Power Point presentation on the overview of skill development and new education policy in perspective of Himachal Pradesh on the guidelines of the Governor.
Nisha Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Technical Education, K.K. Pant, Principal Secretary, Education, Rohan Chand Thakur, Managing Director, HP Kaushal Vikas Nigam, Prof. A.K. Sarial, Vice-Chancellor, CSKHP, Dr. Parvinder Kaushal, VC, Nauni University and S.P. Bansal, VC, HP Technical University, Hamirpur also took part in deliberation and gave their valuable inputs regarding skill development.
Dr. R.N. Batta, Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Hans Raj, Director, Industries, Dr. C.L. Chandan, VC, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Cluster University, Mandi, Prof. Arvind Kalia, Dean of Studies, HP University, Shimla, Shubh Karan Singh, Director, Technical Education, Dr. Ashish Sharma, Registrar, Atal Medical and Research University, Mandi, Dr. Amarjeet Sharma, Director, Higher Education, Rohit Jamwal, Director, Elementary Education and other officers of State Government were also present on the occasion.
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