LUCKNOW: To improve the quality of education in secondary schools, the state government has asked the Ministry of Human Resource Development to start, with immediate effect, vocational courses in 100 secondary schools affiliated to the UP Board. An announcement to this effect was made by secretary, secondary education department, Partha Sarthi Sen Sharma, while speaking at the inaugural ceremony of a two-day workshop on 'Education Excellence for School Leadership Team' by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Accepting that the vocational education system in the state needed a major overhaul, Sharma said UP has 872 vocational education schools with 35 courses where the curriculum needs redesigning as per the needs of the industry. Proposing that CII should sign a Memorandum of Understanding with UP and reach out to principals of schools affiliated to UP Board, Sharma said such an exercise would also help more than 19,000 schools under UP Board - 1,000 government-run, 4,500 aided and 13,500 privately-run schools that were recognised by the state government.

The two-day workshop on Education Excellence for School Leadership Team, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, is being conducted by A Senthil Kumaran, principal counsellor at CII Institute of Quality in Bangalore. Kumaran, who will hold the session with stakeholders, said there was a need, in the education sector, to share ideas and to innovate in order to achieve excellence in education.

Over 25 principals from top schools from Lucknow and nearby cities will attend the interactive workshop to bring the administration abreast with the latest in academic leadership, Total Quality Management (TQM), its fundamental principles and practices to increase the effectiveness of a school.