The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Polytechnic education to spread

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Friday, Aug 08, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Polytechnic education to spread

HYDERABAD: Polytechnic education in the country will see an upswing in the coming years with the Central Government rolling out a series of schemes to increase the technicians making use of the existing infrastructure and creating new facilities, said the Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development (HRD), D. Purandeswari.

She said starting second shifts in 500 existing engineering colleges for polytechnics, creation of 300 new polytechnics including 185 uncovered districts and opening polytechnics under the public-private partnership were on the agenda.

She was speaking at the meeting of All India Federation of Polytechnic Teachers’ Organisations (AIFPTO) here on Thursday.

The Minister said 300 polytechnics would be started in the country spending Rs. 12.5 crores each and the State Governments need to provide free land for these. If private parties come up with proposals, the Government would provide financial assistance of Rs. three crores each. Similarly, 500 existing polytechnics would be strengthened spending Rs. 2 crores each. She said the effort was to utilise the existing infrastructure in engineering colleges and Rs. two crores would be spent on 500 such institutions to start a polytechnic in second shift. However, she was concerned that the expansion would not make any impact unless the manpower assessment of the industry was done. “Such an assessment would give a new direction to polytechnic education,” she felt. She said vocationalisation of polytechnic education was must if the students had to productively contribute for country’s economy. “There is a need for more practical orientation,” she said and promised to look into the suggestion made by the Technical Education Commissioner, L. Premchandra Reddy that a six-month internship in the industry should be made mandatory for all candidates. She also favoured multi-exit and multi-entry system in technical education to give more practical exposure for students.

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