STARS program to aid School- to- Work transition

A first-of-its-kind workshop on the School-to-Work Transition under the STARS (Strengthening Teaching -Learning and Results for States) Programme was hosted by the Ministry of Education and World Bank on May 20, in Mumbai. Sanjay Kumar, Secretary of School Education, and Atul Kumar Tiwari, Secretary of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, co-chaired the session.

In addition to the state project directors of Samagra Shiksha, the Secretaries of Education and Skill Department from each of the STARS states, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Odisha, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh, as well as the relevant officers and World Bank representative, attended the workshop.

The workshop sims to strengthen vocational education and school-to-work transition. Its discussions were centered on the convergence of skill and vocational issues as well as a skill gap study of the six STARS States.

Kumar and Tiwari, elaborated on the current interventions of the Government of India, the National Education Policy's provisions on vocational and skill education, and suggestive measures to scale up vocational education in districts in order to support the shared ideology of economic growth by improving the employability of our youth.

In order to address industry expectations and prepare students for employment following class 12, a comprehensive plan was presented, focusing on vocational education, industrial partnerships, integrating vocational studies with school curricula, and changing the current school curriculum.

The training also included a session with industry professionals who shared important insights on the abilities that are now needed in the workplace. The seminar came to a close with a reminder that now is the perfect time to start investing in vocational training and making it a goal for the nation's youth.