Exclusive diploma courses for girls to be launched

The Higher Education Department’s move to introduce new courses came against the backdrop of a decrease in the number of girls pursuing polytechnic courses.

A senior official from the Directorate of Technical Education (DoTE) pointed out that 11,063 girls had enrolled in various polytechnic institutions in 2017-18. But it reduced to 10,016 in 2018-19 and 7,495 in 2019-20.

Only 5,326 girls have enrolled for diploma courses in polytechnic colleges this year. “To improve the admission rate of female students for diploma courses, we have decided to introduce six job-oriented courses for female students,” he added.

According to the DoTE official, the new courses include interior decoration, office management and computer applications, web design, biomedical electronics, and ECG.

Stating that new diploma courses like fire technology and safety, technician X-Ray technology and medical laboratory technology were introduced in the previous academic year, he said, “the proposed new courses would be exclusively for female students.”

Regarding the preparation of the syllabus, the official said a committee has been constituted, comprising a senior faculty from polytechnic college, a professor from a higher learning institution, and practicing professionals (industry experts) in the respective fields of engineering industries.

“The panel will plan the curriculum and syllabi for the new courses based on the inputs of industry experts to enhance the employability of the diploma holders,” he said.

The official pointed out that once the new courses have been launched, e-learning video modules will also be prepared by polytechnic lecturers and it would be uploaded in the ‘YouTube’, which would play a vital role in facilitating all the students, especially from rural areas to learn their subjects anytime anywhere.