Bhubaneswar, Feb. 8: The state government has directed the technical education department to expedite its work on the setting up of career counselling centres in all colleges. The department has been asked to prepare an action plan for all colleges within a week's time.
In a recent meeting headed by development commissioner U.N. Behera, the department was reminded that under the Chief Minister's Employment Generation Programme, a minimum of 150 youth from each gram panchayat would be imparted training in various skills. These youths would then be provided loan and subsidy linkage during the next five years.
The department was also asked to list the names of "training and testing (assessment) centres" on its website for the convenience of students.
It was also instructed to give the placement status for students during 2013-14. The department had targeted to place 18,000 youths during 2014-15.
The department has also been asked to explore the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) for infrastructure development for technical education in the state.
"We will also be preparing an action plan for opening of coaching centres to provide coaching for civil service, banking service, railway service and staff selection commission competitive examinations," said a senior official of the department.
Employment fair
The department held a meeting earlier this week regarding the much-awaited employment fair. The fair was originally scheduled to be held in September, but later, it was deferred indefinitely. It was found that most of the companies that had earlier given their consent to participate in the fair, had backtracked. Some others who had agreed to participate made it clear that they would recruit candidates according to their requirements. Only 40 of the 300 companies invited to the fair had agreed to participate.
Industries minister Debi Prasad Mishra said that the fair would be held at any cost. A meeting has been scheduled on the third week of February where the date for the fair would be announced. Nearly 40,000 candidates have applied for jobs.
A 90-minute multiple-choice computer-based test has been kept ready for the candidates.
