VIJAYAWADA, OCT 30 : Andhra Pradesh School Education Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Skill Development S Suresh Kumar on Monday said the AP School Education Department’s pioneering initiative, the ‘Entrepreneurial Mindset Development Programme (EMDP)’, has not only yielded many positive outcomes but also now won international acclamation.

In a statement here, Suresh Kumar said that the EMDP for Class 9 students is aimed at building entrepreneurial mindset and 21st century skills and also introducing them to the basic financial literacy skills and concepts.

“What started with about 1,000 Class 9 students in 30 government schools in the year 2021 has now spread to 3,50,000 students in 5,420 schools during the ongoing academic year”, he stated.

“The objective of the programme is to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and also 21st Century skills among students and create a platform where they can showcase their talents and learnings through projects,” the School Education Commissioner said, adding that they will attend the Global Social and Financial Skills Conference at Utrecht, the Netherlands, from November 1 to 3, where he will showcase the encouraging results of EMDP to an international audience.

“EMDP is in line with the vision of imparting high standard education and making AP children global students. Making our students competitive in all spheres of education and skilling is our overall endeavour,” Suresh Kumar said.

The Global Social and Financial Skills Conference will be the third event where the success of AP’s EMDP is being showcased, after the Asia Regional Conference in Indonesia and Transforming Education Summit at the United Nations General Assembly, New York.

AP is only the second state in the country, after Delhi, to implement EMDP in collaboration with an alliance of five non-profit organisations led by the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship.

The Impact Evaluation Study of EMDP was carried out by the World Bank, in association with six international universities.

“Developing critical thinking and problem solving abilities are the two key stress areas in EMDP. The curriculum is so designed with a strong connection to regular subjects and emphasis on project work so that what is learnt is put into practice,” Suresh noted.

“In the near future, we will expand EMDP to other grades as well to ensure continuity. Connecting students with subject experts and providing internship opportunities for hands-on practice are among the other key initiatives planned for making EMDP more effective,” the Commissioner added.(UNI)