Bhubaneswar, Aug. 3: Students in many CBSE schools in Odisha will shortly have the option to venture beyond the usual syllabus and pursue vocational subjects.

The DAV Public School, Chandrashekharpur, will be the first school in the state to introduce the option. Regional director of DAV institutions in Odisha zone-I and principal of DAV Public School, K.C. Satapathy announced this on the eve of the school's 27th foundation day.

Satapathy said the aim of introducing vocational courses was to prepare students for real-life situations and enhance their employability, while moving away from mere theory-based teaching. The system seriously aims to offer practical training and increase the number of skilled workforce in the country.

"The main motive is also to make students understand the multiple job opportunities and potential that vocational courses would provide," said Satapathy.

Although the CBSE had introduced vocational courses since 2013, none of the schools in the state have introduced it because of lack of proper infrastructure and skilled teachers.

Besides, DAV Public School, at least three other schools in the city are also planning to introduce vocational courses by the next academic year.

The eight vocational streams offered by the CBSE include IT, automobile, retail, beauty and wellness, healthcare, travel and tourism, financial market management and security. Nearly 190 government schools across the country presently offer some of these subjects from the list of vocational courses.

Students studying in these schools have also expressed their excitement over the prospect of studying the new courses.

"Having a particular skill set, especially technical, will always add weight to our profile and it is high time that students have such practical exposure from their schools. Most schools in the US offer such courses and sadly it had been introduced very late in India," said Diksha Mishra, a student of Class VIII.

The CBSE recently introduced financial market management as a vocational course during the current academic year for Classes IX and X. The course is part of the National Skills Qualification Framework - the quality assurance guideline by the Union ministry of human resource development's vocational/skills education programmes. Until now, the CBSE was offering only as a joint certificate course in collaboration with the National Stock Exchange.