Vocational education revamp on cards: Ministry

With an aim to equip its youth with required skills the growing economy needs and give a competitive advantage to its workforce on the global front, the government is set to re-structure Vocationalisation of Secondary Education programme, a centrally sponsored scheme.

The scheme launched in 1988 was aimed to provide vocational courses in general schools with two- year duration at the higher secondary stage (XI and XII). A Working Group, set up by Planning Commission, has  recommended that now the scheme should be re-structured to provide vocational courses at secondary stage (IX and X). The report would be put before Steering Committee on Education for consideration to formulate 12th five year plan (2012-17).

Since its inception, about 10,000 schools have been covered under the scheme with an intake capacity of about 10 lakh students across the country.

The National Mission on Skill Development, under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister of India, had set a target of preparing 500 million skilled persons by 2022. On the other hand, it is expected out of  approximately 75 to 80 million jobs  created in India over the next 5 years, 75 per cent will require vocational training to enhance the employability prospects.

But, there is a huge ‘skill gap’ both in terms of quality and quantity. At present, only 2 per cent of the work force in the age group 15-29 has undergone formal vocational training and eight per cent have had non-formal vocational training.

Considering the magnitude of the challenge, Ministry of Human Resources has proposed a National Vocational Education Qualifications Framework (NVEQF) to promote vocational education in the country. During consultations on development of the NVEQF, States and other stakeholders had strongly recommended that vocational education needs to be introduced from Class IX, as against the present system of introduction at Higher Secondary levels.

Experts in the report observed that drop out rate rises substantially after Class VIII and further more after Class X. Therefore, there is a need to start vocational education from Class IX itself. It would also retain more children in the secondary and higher secondary levels.

The report says the country needs to establish 6,000 new vocational schools. This will require Rs 14,18,678 crore over next five years and the central state share will be worked out as follows: Civil construction 75:25; Teachers salary 90:10; Other expenses 100 per cent.

It further recommends that separate vocational schools are to be discouraged since the effort is to mainstream vocational education, which means sections in existing schools offer vocational courses. Further, a Model Vocational Schools should be set up in each district to serve as a mentor for other schools.

It also recommends that National Council of Teacher Education should revise teacher education syllabi to include a separate paper on Vocational Education in B.Ed. and M.Ed. programmes for teacher preparation.

Vocational education has been accorded high priority in the National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986. The NPE, 1986 set the target to cover 10 per cent higher secondary students under vocational courses by 1990 and 25 per cent by 1995. However, an enrolment of only about five per cent has been achieved.