Bhubaneswar: Plus II students will now get to pursue two new vocational courses from the current academic session of 2026-27. Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) has approved introduction of vocational trade subjects – health care and apparels – for Class XI and XII students under the integrated vocational stream.The decision was taken at a recent meeting of the CHSE academic committee following a request from Odisha School Education Programme Authority. Officials in the committee said under the health care subject, students will be trained for the job role of general duty assistant trainee, while the apparels stream will offer training for the job role of assistant fashion designer.Following a series of detailed deliberations, the academic committee unanimously approved inclusion of both sectors and their respective job roles in the Integrated Vocational stream for classes XI and XII.The committee also decided to formally adopt the standard syllabus, curriculum and study materials developed by the Pandit Sunderlal Sharma Central Institute of Vocational Education, Bhopal, under NCERT, for students of higher secondary schools in the state.The CHSE has been directed to upload the approved syllabus and related materials on its official website immediately, enabling students and teachers to access them.Council officials said the introduction of the two trade subjects will provide higher secondary students with opportunities to acquire job-oriented vocational skills alongside their academic education.Earlier this year, the council had allowed all vocational students to free any trade paper or subject of choice with their language papers. Under the new provision, vocational education students while selecting Basic Foundation Course subjects do not have to chose humanities, science or commerce, irrespective of the trades they are enrolling in.