Bhubaneswar : Thousands of students, who have opted for vocational subjects in high schools, are in a spot after the state government announced the dates for matriculation examination, scheduled to start from February 23, 2018.
The reason: students are yet to get textbooks on vocational education and the exam for Class IX ended just a week back.
“I opted for information technology (IT) subject as third optional with a hope that it will help in pursuing a career in technical education later. But so far we have not received textbooks for Class X while the exam dates are already announced. Besides, there are both theory and practical exams in the subject,” said Rakesh Pradhan, a student.
Odisha government had launched vocational education in schools in December last year in 208 secondary schools.
Under the programme students of Class IX can opt for any of the four vocational streams – IT and ITES; retail; travel and tourism, and banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI).
Each subject has 200 hours of course – 120 hours of practical and 80 hours of theory. The practical examination will be conducted by sector skill councils and the theory exam will be conducted by the Board of Secondary Education from 2018. In each school, 35 students will have to choose any one of the four subjects as third language.
“Though while launching the programme, the state government had promised to provide Odia textbooks on these subjects, but things are not streamlined yet. Students will face a lot of problems as they expect to secure high marks from a practical subject,” said a high schoolteacher, requesting anonymity. The course, having four levels, will complete in Class XII.
When contacted, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) director M Muthukumar said, “I took charge today only. I don’t have much idea about the issues. But I will certainly look into the matter and resolve the issue at the earliest.”
Note: News shared for public awareness with reference from the information provided at online news portals.
