Azad for industry relevant training courses in polytechnics

Srinagar, July 22 (UNI) Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has underlined the need for demand driven and industry relevant training courses to meet the growing need of professionals in the state's private sector.

He asked officers of the technical education department to devise training courses in keeping with the market demand.

The Chief Minister, who chaired a meeting to review the functioning of the Kashmir Government Polytechnic and the Government Polytechnic for Women here, called for a re-look at training courses and their fine tuning so that job avenues for pass outs from these institutions could be easily available.

He said the problem of unemployment in the state was peculiar in nature as educated youth were not drawn to self-employment but only wait for government jobs, where absorption capacity was limited ascompared to other sectors.

Mr Azad said he had addressed more than one lakh public meetings across the country during his political career but did not find a single instance where a group of youth raised slogans, demanding government jobs.

This sight, he said, was very common in Jammu and Kashmir and held politicians and rulers responsible for spoiling the lives of the youth, for selling them dreams of unavailable government jobs.

The Chief Minister called for change in the mindset among the educated youth and asked them to look for avenues other than the government sector.

On inquiring about the placement of students of the institutions, he was informed that 76 pass outs from the Government Women's Polytechnic were absorbed in the private sector since 2000-01 in various disciplines. Similarly, the placement percentage in Kashmir Government Polytechnic was 68, 88, 92, 95 and 98 in 2000-01, 2001-02, 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 respectively.

UNI