Hyderabad, February 14: If vocational training for women brings to mind images of women being taught knitting, embroidery and sewing, the latest moves by the state education department is all set to change that.
The department, with an aim to bring about a change in the kind of vocational training being imparted, is planning to shift the focus from low profile job training with little current market value to more commercially viable training in professional jobs.
It is going to launch a scheme under which new vocational training methods like the ongoing training of rural women at National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT).
Around 1,700 rural women are being trained at NIFT to identify and develop commercially viable designs
and are also taught some of the designs developed by NIFT.
Small scale business planning and sales strategy development is also a part of the training while a separate programme for weavers that focuses on self sustainability.
“That there needs to be a radical change in the way we look at vocational training of the rural youth and more importantly of the rural women has been felt for some time now. We are into talks with other premier institutes like NID and a scheme with regard to vocational training will be flagged off very soon,” said principal secretary for primary education, Chandana Khan.
“We want to tie up with big institutes because we believe that if we want to empower the rural people, it has to be done effectively. Earlier vocational training especially in the case of women was essentially in traditional professions like sewing and embroidery. We are now striving to bring about a change in this system,” added Khan.
The innovative scheme will bring about a positive change in the earnings of women. The initiative will soon be expanded to cover more beneficiaries after the first batch of rural women finish their training, officials indicated.
–Agencies