After engaging 4,000 entrepreneurs, the Delhi Government will now engage 17,000 more entrepreneurs who will then interact with the students of Delhi Government schools as a part of 'Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculum (EMC)', Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia directed the senior officials involved in the core committee of this programme in a meeting held on Tuesday.
As per the official data, Last year, 4000 entrepreneurs had interacted with 3,10,309 students and discussed their journey as entrepreneurs. Encouraged by the response of students, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government is now planning to give impetus to the initiative by involving more number of entrepreneurs this year to help students to understand the entrepreneurial approach through living examples.
Senior officers from State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Directorate of Education (DoE) and the core committee of the EMC programme were a part of this review meeting chaired by the education minister.
"We need to create a pool of 17,000 entrepreneurs to take them to each of the classrooms. There is the need to inculcate an entrepreneurial mindset amongst our students in which the Live Interactions with Entrepreneurs play a very important part. Our entrepreneurs' recollection of their journey will help the students learn from real life experiences," said Sisodia.
"During interaction sessions, we should have a two way interaction between students and entrepreneur in a small setting of 30-40 for better communication and understanding," he added.
With the intent to build the entrepreneurship skills through live project, the government is also planning to provide seed money of Rs 1000 to each students of classes 11th and 12th for the field projects.
"For a holistic exposure to the entrepreneurial set up, it is essential to get our students involved in field projects. We are planning to roll out the field projects in April, 2020 and July, 2020 for classes 12th and 11th respectively. Students will be given a seed money of Rs 1000 for their field project. They will be involved in entrepreneurial activities which will enable them to 'think-out-of-the box' and take on a solution centric approach," said the education minister.
Further, the government will also provide training sessions for officers, Mentor Teachers and EMC Coordinators, by April this year. It will facilitate the smooth implementation and execution of the EMC programme, said the official.
Another component of EMC, Micro-research project is aiming to involve seven lakh students in interviewing their neighbors and relatives who are into varied professions including own business. Under the project, the children will learn through structured interviews the different career choices available and being exercised by people in the immediate vicinity of students.
"It is our attempt to let students gain hands-on experience about the entrepreneur's life, their everyday challenges and achievements along the way. We are also looking to involve parents through Parent Teacher Meetins (PTMs) where they will be explained about the importance of this project. At the end of the day, it's the parents who would encourage their wards to take active participation in the programme," said Sisodia added.
The EMC was started in 2019-20 to instill entrepreneurial mindsets in the students of Delhi Government schools. The EMC has been developed by SCERT Delhi with the help of teachers and NGOs and focuses on providing real life experiences to students which can help them turn out to be responsible professions.
