Illiterate? Join vocational courses at Ambedkar univ

LUCKNOW: Now, even an illiterate person can get enrolled in a university and proudly walk home with a course certificate.

In a first of its kind initiative, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Central University (BBACU) has decided to start community college in five different disciplines, admission to which will not have any eligibility criteria.

The courses — computer skill training, fresh water prawn cultivation, honeybee venom production, mushroom cultivation and dietetic — would start from September. Each course will be of three months duration the fees for which has been fixed at R5000.

Teachers from different departments of the university would be engaged in imparting training, which is aimed at empowering the youth through skill-based and vocational teaching. “There will be more emphasis on practical training rather than class room teaching,” said prof RC Sobti, vice-chancellor of the university.

“The primary focus would be on empowering students from marginal and underprivileged sections,” said Sobti.

“It will help the less fortunate students to find gainful employ- ment in collaboration with the local industry and community,” he said while adding that the proposed college would also try to collaborate with the local industry partners, to provide skill-oriented education to its students.

“The community colleges are like a parallel system of education and the students enrolled in these course will have the advantage to use the existing infrastructure and benefit from it. All this will be a part of the national vocational educational framework that would facilitate the learners to reap the benefit in the growing employment sector,” he added.