UP focuses on vocational education & skill development

The Uttar Pradesh government has placed fresh emphasis on vocational education and skill development to address unemployment and prepare youth for emerging industries. Under the initiative “Skill to Every Hand, Employment to Every Youth”, the state aims to provide hands-on training from school level onwards.

As part of the plan, vocational subjects are being introduced from Class 6 in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The focus is on equipping students with practical skills such as IT, electronics, entrepreneurship, and agriculture, enabling them to pursue both employment and self-employment opportunities.

Institutions like Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), polytechnics, and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) centres are being expanded to train lakhs of students every year. Officials said the government is also partnering with industries to ensure training matches workforce requirements, thereby improving employability.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has stressed that traditional education alone is not sufficient in today’s job market. By combining academics with vocational learning, the government hopes to create a skilled workforce capable of contributing to both state and national development. Experts believe this approach could significantly reduce the job-skill mismatch in Uttar Pradesh.