May 4, 2013, 12:00 am
The Central Board of Secondary Education has asked its affiliated schools to offer skill development courses to students from Class 9 onwards to make them job-ready as soon as they pass out of school.
The list, drawn up by the CBSE, includes 35 skill knowledge providers in 11 areas, including retail, information technology, security, automobile, banking and insurance, hospitality and tourism, mass media and media production, health and beauty, music production, design, and medical diagnostics.
The board expects students signing up for these courses "to excel and emerge successful in real life situations of both work and life", in addition to creating skilled manpower for industry right from school.
Students studying in CBSE-affiliated schools will have the option to choosing these competency-based skill courses along with the general academic subjects in order to enhance their skills in their chosen field.
Besides ensuring that students finishing schools will have the skills necessary to gain employment soon after school, academics feel that even students inclined to pursue higher studies could attempt the courses to see if they would be interested in pursuing a career in the field.
