A master plan will be prepared by the government for restructuring the courses offered in higher secondary and engineering streams in the State and to make them job-oriented in the wake of seats going vacant in schools and engineering colleges, Education Minister C. Ravindranath has said.
Replying to questions in the Assembly on Thursday, the Minister said the comprehensive master plan would be based on the study being carried out by the department and on the basis of the report to be submitted by a three-member expert committee headed by K.K. Dinesan.
As many as 42,000 seats in Plus Two courses were lying vacant in the State this academic year although the government increased the seats by 10% taking into account the problems faced by students in districts such as Malappuram.
In the engineering stream, Mr. Ravindranath said, 50,000 seats were vacant. But the seats in arts and commerce courses in self-financing colleges were in high demand and had been filled. In polytechnics, 809 seats remained unfilled after admissions.
To a query, the Minister said the term of the Dineshan committee had been extended by another two months and the report was expected next month. The government was also considering a Bill to end the exploitation of teachers by the managements of unaided schools in the State, he said in reply to a question on the low salary given to 1.5 lakh teachers working in 3,000-odd schools.
The Minister said the cluster meeting organised was part of the Quality Improvement Programme (QIP) aimed at revamping the education sector and making it hi-tech. Teachers boycotting the cluster meeting would give a wrong signal to citizens and result in people losing faith and confidence in the public education sector, the Minister said while appealing to the House to support the initiatives to improve the education level.
