File Photo: Former President APJ Abdul Kalam (Press Trust of India)
Former President APJ Abdul Kalam today called for a review of syllabi in universities and senior secondary schools to make the education system more skill-oriented.
"I believe that the syllabus in our universities and schools should be changed and 25 per cent of it be dedicated for skill development.
"When the students pass out of senior secondary schools, they should have two certificates - of passing 10+2 examination and of a specific skill acquired by him during schooling," Dr Kalam said while interacting with a gathering of principals and teachers at Delhi Secretariat.
During the session which was also attended by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Dr Kalam mooted the idea of introducing 'mobile skill development laboratory'.
"We have approximately 9,000 schools in Delhi but all of them don't have the same resources. Therefore, I suggest that mobile skill development laboratories should be introduced for the benefit of the students.
"The mobile vans will be ICT enabled and will have the mechanical and chemical engineering set up. There will be a pre-defined schedule for the van and it will cover two schools in a day," he said.
Dr Kalam, said if each of the MLAs decides to introduce one such van in his or her constituency, around 12-14 schools will benefit from each van.
"But for making all these efforts successful the educationists need to review the study material. The management of knowledge should be kept in mind while deciding on the amount of information being fed to students," he said.
Dr Kalam said the educators should exercise moral leadership.
He also administered a 12-point oath to the teachers and principals for dedicating themselves to providing education for "righteous evolution of youth".
The teachers and principals who participated in the interaction were from the schools who have volunteered to be develop as "model schools".
Allocating a budget of Rs 9,836 crore for education sector in the financial year 2015-16, the Delhi Government had announced a plan of developing 50 schools as model schools during the period.
Dr Kalam also suggested that the schools should tie up with Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) or polytechnics in their vicinity to utilise their resources for developing skills of students.