In the wake of reports that vocational stream courses in Class XI and XII are being closed in a few schools across the State, associations representing teachers from vocational streams have reiterated their demand to fill the vacancies and prevent shutting down of the courses.
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In an order issued last week, the Chief Educational Officer (CEO) of Tenkasi district asked nine government schools to stop offering select vocational courses from the academic year 2022-23. The reasons cited were either non-availability of teachers or available teachers due for retirement. The order said the decision was as per the advice received at the meeting of all CEOs headed by Commissioner of School Education last month.
Similar orders had been issued by the CEO of Kanniyakumari district as well. 'Agri' M. Madhavan, State president of Tamil Nadu Agricultural Graduate Teachers' Association, said there had been reports of closing down of vocational courses in some schools in Dindigul and Cuddalore district. He said the government should focus on filling vacancies and not shut down the vocational courses. He said closing down should not be the solution as it might lead to dropout of many students after Class 10.
S.N. Janardhanan, president of Tamil Nadu Vocational Teachers’ Kazhagam, said the government could not take steps to promote vocational education and employability skills through curriculum changes on the one hand while silently closing down the vocational courses in many places.
He said there had been good demand from students and parents for vocational courses, particularly among those from underprivileged background and those who could not score high marks in Class X due to various factors. Highlighting that recruitment had not been done for vocational course for the past many years, he urged the government to fill the vacancies.