Chandigarh, Dec18 (PTI) Haryana Education Minister Mahipal Dhanda on Thursday said continuous efforts are being made for the capacity building and skill upgradation of vocational teachers.

Regular training programmes are organised, including five-day in-service training programmes for all vocational teachers through Shri Vishwakarma Skill University (SVSU), Palwal, District Institute of Education and Training (DIET), and State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) Gurugram.

Additionally, selected vocational teachers have also undergone specialised training at the Pandit Sundarlal Sharma Central Institute of Vocational Education (PSSCIVE), Bhopal, he said.

Beyond classroom teaching, the programme places strong emphasis on practical exposure through guest lectures by artisans and industry experts, on-the-job training (OJT), and field visits based on the curriculum prescribed by the Government of India.

The minister was replying to the Calling Attention motion moved by opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) members Arjun Chautala and Aditya Devi Lal in the state assembly regarding "acute shortage of trained teachers and instructors in schools/training institutions of the state".

Lal said regular teachers should be appointed and foreign language courses should also be started to help the youth who want to go abroad in search of better opportunities.

Chautala noted that there is a shortage of teachers and vacancies should be filled.

Out of 2,784 vocational teacher posts sanctioned by the Government of India, 2,052 posts have been filled, Dhanda informed the Haryana Assembly.

The Government of India provides partial financial assistance of Rs 25,000 per month per vocational teacher towards remuneration, while the remaining amount, against a total salary of Rs 35,075 per month, is borne by the state government, he said.

He also noted that the government is establishing 22 centres of excellence, one in each district, within selected Model Sanskriti Schools.

Each centre of excellence will offer five vocational skills, to strengthen skill-based education among students. This initiative will be implemented through the collective efforts of Shri Vishwakarma Skill University, Palwal, the Board of School Education, Haryana, Bhiwani and the Education Department, Haryana.

The minister said that the school education department, through the Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad (HSSPP), has been implementing the vocational education programme under the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) since the academic year 2012-13.

The programme is a Government of India funded scheme supported under Samagra Shiksha and PM SHRI, with annual approvals accorded by the Project Approval Board (PAB) of the Ministry of Education.

Dhanda also said that the programme is targeted at students of classes 9-12 and is currently operational in 1,398 government schools across the state.

A total of 2,238 vocational laboratories have been established in these schools, and 2,03,557 students are enrolled in the current academic session, he added.

Vocational education is being imparted in 15 sectors – Beauty and Wellness, IT/ITeS, automobile, healthcare, retail, tourism and hospitality, private security, banking and finance, apparel and fashion designing, power, plumbing, construction, media and entertainment, agriculture, and physical education, he informed.

He said that Rozgar Melas are organised annually in every district to facilitate employment opportunities.

Another initiative is the Kushal Business Challenge (KBC), launched by the Haryana government, which encourages students to develop innovative business ideas and gain a practical understanding of entrepreneurship, the minister said. PTI SUN OZ OZ