Maharashtra Governor advises Vocational Training University

While speaking at the inauguration of a symposium on 'Maharashtra: Past, Present and Future' as part of the year-long celebrations of the birth centenary of the first chief minister of Maharashtra Yashwantrao B. Chavan, K. Sankaranarayanan, Maharashtra Governor has advocated the need of setting-up a vocational training university in the state.

"I have been consistently advocating the need for creating a vocational training university in Maharashtra to provide short-term, skill-based courses to our educated as well as uneducated youth. I will be happy to have some initiative on this front," Sankaranarayanan said.

"The number of persons registered with employment exchanges in the state is five million. The number of those not registered could be at least five times the figure," he said.

"We, therefore, need skill development initiatives to make our youths employable," he added.

"As Chancellor of universities in the state, I am particularly interested in promoting access and excellence in higher education. With 20 universities in which almost three million students are pursuing higher education, the state has an excellent pool of educated people," he said.

"Maharashtra has some world-class educational institutions in engineering, technology, science, social science and other areas. We also have the best of agricultural universities. However, our enrolment in higher education is much low considering our high levels of literacy," he added.

Fine arts college for the disabled opened in Tamil Nadu

Senior sculptor and painter G Chandrasekaran has started a fine arts school for disabled in Tirunelveli. The school is named "Ovvai Mulari". The school is going to offer 3 years diploma in fine arts. The first batch is expected to start in August 2015. "There are a number of disabled students who are interested in art. The idea is to train them on various aspects of sculpture-making. The style is mainly based on our heritage and culture but with a modern touch," said Chandrasekaran. Ovvai Mulari, the fine arts school for the disabled students.

Assam state is set to get 12 new government colleges

In a move that could boost education in the state of Assam, Education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed that the state government set up quality educational institutions in the state. He said that the 12 government colleges in Assam are on the lines of Guwahati's prestigious Cotton College. "The objective behind opening new government colleges is to achieve excellence in the field of higher education. Hopefully, we will be able to open the colleges by 2016," he said.

Vice President hopes India will have world class education system

Central University of Bihar celebrated its first convocation ceremony on Sep 27, 2013. The Vice President of India, M Hamid Ansari, Vice Chancellor Smt Meira Kumar, and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar were present on the occasion. M Hamid Ansari streed that India needs to adopt quality, affordability and accessibility as the guiding mantra for the development of our national education system.

Kapil Sibal: Polytechnics can generate skilled workforce

While speaking at the second national convention of State Boards of Technical Education on 'Polytechnic Education and Achievements and Challenges Ahead', Union Minister for HRD Kapil Sibal told that Polytechnics can help in curbing the shortfall of skilled manpower in the country. "Polytechnics can generate skilled manpower for the country if they tie-up with Industry to upgrade their syllabus," said Kapil Sibal.

Tarun Gogoi stresses on Skill Development to end unemployment in Assam

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is very serious in tackling unemployment amongst the youth on the need for skill development. "Both high and semi-skilled workforce is in great demand and the state must be able to produce a pool of skilled manpower to cater to the needs of various sectors," said Gogoi while launching a skill development programme.