By – Er. Prabhat Kishore
Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya is the ambitious central scheme, named after Kasturba Gandhi, to provide quality education to girls of disadvantage sections of the society by setting up residential schools/hostels attached with existing schools with boarding facilities at elementary as well as secondary level in Educationally Backward Blocks.
In addition to formal education, the government is consistently pursuing promotion of vocational education in Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs). The National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD) under Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) is planning to implement the Entrepreneurship cum Skill Development Program (ESDP) for KGBV students of Class XI and XII at Pan India level sponsored under Skill Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for livelihood promotion (SANKALP) project of MSDE.
The said program aims to create, foster and promote the spirit of entrepreneurship among the target group through Capacity Building Mentoring and Handholding support. Further, the objective of the program is to change the mindset of students, develop entrepreneurial competency, entrepreneurial values and attitude among target groups making them self-reliant so that they may pursue entrepreneurship in future. In addition, NIESBUD would provide extended mentoring and handholding support to the KGBV trainees willing to start their enterprise after passing out from the schools, for a period of two years (from the time they express their willingness to start their enterprise and request hand-holding support from NIESBUD).
For the Entrepreneurship cum Development of KGBV students, following areas have been identified by NIESBUD: (i) Agri and Allied Business, (ii) Forest Based Products, (iii) Food Processing, (iv) Handicrafts and Art Crafts, (v) Tourism and Hospitality, (vi) Mobile Sale & Service, (vii) Beauty and Wellness, (viii) Fashion Design, (ix) Health Care, (x) Green Business, (xi) Electronics, (xii) Packaging.
The cost of the capacity building interventions and mentoring/handholding activities would be borne by NIESBUD. The said program will help in improving the vocational skills of girls of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas.
(Author is Engineer and Educationist)
