As part of its ongoing endeavour to help girls become self-reliant in the state, the Uttar Pradesh government, led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, will provide vocational training to them in schools. 

Director-General of School Education Vijay Kiran Anand said the training would commence in the upgraded Kasturba Balika Vidyalayas of the state. “Orders have been issued and these schools have been asked to connect 100 per cent girl students to this programme,” he said.

Meetings with parents will be held to generate awareness about the value of vocational training at the community level with the cooperation of district inspectors of schools, principals, district coordinators of Skill Development Mission, district basic education officers and district coordinators of girl education.

“To motivate and enrol more girls, the introduction of skill development schemes and its advantages should be discussed. Room and furniture should be compulsorily made available for training,” Anand said.

He said a room within each hostel should be converted into a training room and the girls be assigned trade-based training as per their interests during pre-counselling. It should be mandatory to report the attendance of girl students undergoing training on the Prerna portal.

A warning has also been issued along with the directive that the district coordinators for girl education and wardens would face disciplinary action if different circumstances were discovered during physical verification or a surprise inspection.

Assistant Director of the Skill Development Mission Rajeev Yadav said a total of 54 Kasturba Balika Vidyalayas had been notified, and training would begin soon. The registration procedure has begun.

In addition to this, the Skill Development Mission runs numerous programmes across the state to give girls access to vocational education. In view of women’s safety, a safety kit distribution programme is also going on. After 10 days of training, special kits will be provided to the girls by experts. Additionally, as part of the pilot project, vocational training has already begun in a few women’s residential homes.