Symbiosis’s community college opened at Maan in Mulshi taluka
Times of India: The Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning’s (SCDL) first community college was formally opened at Maan in Mulshi taluka last Saturday. The college aims at training underprivileged and disadvantaged youngsters, especially those from rural areas, in job-oriented skill-based courses.
The SCDL had unveiled its community college plan on May 30 in view of the encouragement offered to such initiatives by the Union government. Community college is an alternative system of education for empowerment of the disadvantaged, underprivileged women and youth through appropriate skill development.
The idea is to offer post-secondary programmes leading to an associate degree in arts, science and commerce. Developed western countries have played a pioneering role in promoting community colleges.
Under the 11th Five Year Plan, the Union government had laid a major thrust on the development of a vast pool of skill-based human resource that can cater to the requirement of the local industry as well as the economy.
The government has decided to set up at least 200 community colleges across the country and has identified the Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou) as the nodal agency for implementing this programme. It has identified certain areas like management (secretarial practices), soft-skills, communication and IT, agriculture and fisheries and emergency medical services, among others, for creating a skill-based human resource pool.
Speaking at the inaugural function, Symbiosis community college principal Swati Mujumdar, who also heads the SCDL, said that a major focus would be put on training rural women in soft skills and functional English language proficiency. “This would help rural women face the world confidently and seek gainful employment,” she said.
Mujumdar said the community college would be of immense benefit to women and youngsters from villages in the Mulshi and Maval talukas of Pune district.
Consultant to SCDL, Shashikant Gandhe, gave an overview of the community college scheme and its advantages for the targetted audience. Block development officer Dnyanprakash Ghuge and Maan sarpanch Santoshi Sathe, Dnyaneshwar Bodke and others were present on the occasion.
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