First time Union Territory allocated Rs 80 lakh under “Shaala Siddhi” to boost skill development in schools

Chandigarh : In a bid to focus on skill development, MHRD has sanctioned more budget under vocational education to UT, Chandigarh for 2017-18 under the Rashtriya Madhyamic Shiksha Abhiyan. Last year, the budget for skill development was Rs 51.60 lakh in 2016-17 and Rs 80.14 lakh has been granted for the current academic session.

This year, the UT received budget for the adolescent programme for girl students, although the amount was less than what was demanded. For the first time, the centre has allocated a budget to UT for the Shaala Siddhi Project.

Shaala Siddhi, known as the National Programme on School Standards and Evaluation (NPSSE), is a comprehensive instrument for school evaluation leading to school improvement. The programme is aimed at establishing and referring to an agreed set of standards and provide clear pathways for each school for self-evaluation, by focusing on key performance domains and their core standards for school evaluation. The structure of the framework is simple yet flexible and lends itself to both self and external evaluation.

Two new schools, Government Model Senior Secondary School in Sector 37 and Government Girls’ Senior Secondary School in Sector 18 have been approved under vocational education for 2017-18. Two new schools, Government Model High Schools in Dhanas-II and Sector 45 have been added under Information and Communication technologies (ICT). However, the UT’s proposal for budget for minor repairs was turned down. Central authorities said it is not recommended as the UT can bear the cost from the state fund.

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