Education Minister Rohit Thakur on Wednesday said the government was planning to introduce foreign language courses at the college level in a bid to help students acquire global language skills, and create employment opportunities in international markets.
Chairing a review meeting of the Education Department here, the minister said the government was planning to introduce apprentice-embedded degree programmes for students who had completed their bachelor’s degrees.
“Under the initiative, students will get opportunities to work with various industries, while receiving a stipend. It will enable them to enhance their skills and improve their employment prospects,” he said. Thakur added that the BVoc initiative had received an encouraging response from students. “In view of its success, the government is planning to introduce four additional courses under the programme,” he said. Thakur added that, in accordance with the budget announcement, the government had increased the honorarium of SMC teachers, mid-day meal workers, water carriers, computer teachers and multi-task workers working under the Education Department by Rs 500 per month.
Reviewing the performance of students in the HPBOSE examinations, the minister said the annual increments of consistently poor-performing teachers could be withheld to fix accountability.
He stressed the importance of regular biometric attendance, saying salary deductions would be considered in cases of persistent non-compliance.
The minister said 1,131 categories of SMC teachers had been appointed through Limited Direct Recruitment (LDR) category. “LDR process for 714 PGT and 102 DPE posts would be conducted shortly, while the process for computer teachers would be taken up after the necessary amendments to the R&P Rules,” Thakur said. He directed departmental officials to expedite the recruitment process for thousands of vacant teaching posts that have been sent to the Rajya Chayan Aayog and the Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission.
