Hry govt mulling involving students in govt activities

The Haryana government is mulling involving students, who have completed their studies, in government activities to provide them on-the-job experience, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said today.

He was speaking at the vice chancellor's conference on higher education for ethical values and enhanced employability, an official release said.

Khattar said the BJP government in the state was working towards channelising the youth's energy in right direction.

Students after completing their studies from colleges and universities would be engaged in various activities like survey, preparation of estimates of various development works and Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the departments according to their streams, he said.

Giving example of the activities they would be involved in, he said the government had set up the Pond Management Authority for rejuvenation of about 14,000 ponds in the state and the work of their massive survey would be entrusted to civil and mechanical engineers.

Under this scheme, excess water flowing in the ponds would be tapped and used for irrigation purposes through solar pump sets whereas water treated by Public Health Engineering Department would be utilised for drinking, he added.

Emphasizing on the need for making students employable after their education, Khattar said that besides education, the final year students should be provided training in skill development.

He said it was the collective responsibility of the state government and the universities to ensure that the students get employment in any field. He directed them to prepare a list of their alumni of last five years and help those unemployed in getting jobs by providing them requisite training.

The chief minister said government institutes for higher education were more in demand as compared to private education institutes.

"The private education institutions should reduce the cost of education if they want to compete with the government institutions," he said adding that the same could be done through the Corporate Social Responsibility programme.

He said the state government had also given due honour to the educators.

"Earlier, there used to be a sense of fear among teachers about their transfers. But now the government has implemented a transparent online policy under which 93 per cent teachers got stations as per their first, second and third choice," he said.

The conference was jointly organised by Haryana State Higher Education Council (HSHEC) and Haryana Vishwakarma Skill University (HVSU) here.

Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma was also present on this occasion and about 30 vice-chancellors and educationists from 50 universities participated in it, the release said.