Maharashtra governor wants vocational training varsity

Mumbai, May 4 (IANS) Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan Friday said he looked forward to some initiative on creating a vocational training university in the state.

"I have been consistently advocating the need for creating a vocational training university in Maharashtra to provide short-term, skill-based courses to our educated as well as uneducated youth. I will be happy to have some initiative on this front," Sankaranarayanan said.

He was speaking at the inauguration of a symposium on 'Maharashtra: Past, Present and Future' as part of the year-long celebrations of the birth centenary of the first chief minister of Maharashtra Yashwantrao B. Chavan.

Quoting a study, Sankaranarayanan said more than 57 percent of educated youth suffer from varying degrees of skill deficit.

"The number of persons registered with employment exchanges in the state is five million. The number of those not registered could be at least five times the figure," he said.

"We, therefore, need skill development initiatives to make our youths employable," he added.

On the other hand, Sankaranarayanan also commended the state's progress stating that during the last 52 years, it has made spectacular progress in as diverse areas as power generation, irrigation, agriculture, cooperation, communications and many others.

He also said that the biggest strength of Maharashtra is its people and that they are broad-minded and hardworking.

"As Chancellor of universities in the state, I am particularly interested in promoting access and excellence in higher education. With 20 universities in which almost three million students are pursuing higher education, the state has an excellent pool of educated people," he said.

"Maharashtra has some world-class educational institutions in engineering, technology, science, social science and other areas. We also have the best of agricultural universities. However, our enrolment in higher education is much low considering our high levels of literacy," he added.

The symposium was attended by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Chairman of Maharashtra Legislative Council Shivajirao Deshmukh, Speaker of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Dilip Walse Patil and other ministers of the state.