Monday, 30 July 2012

Set up ‘vocational university’ to tap demographic dividend, says CII




The need to train millions of workers, particularly at lower levels, and making them employable was the crux of the seminar – Employment Exchanges to Employability Centres – organised here by the Confederation of Indian Industry recently.
A ‘vocational university’, improving the brand image of vocational skills, creating user-friendly digitised platform in employment exchanges, increasing employability and setting up counselling centres were among the key proposals that came up for discussion at the seminar.
Mr S. Mahalingam, Chairman, CII National Committee on Skills and Executive Director and CFO of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, said vocational education programmes were necessary to make the best use of the demographic dividend the country enjoys. There is a need for radical changes in the course curricula and the skill training infrastructure. There were a lot of skills required across sectors such as construction, manufacturing, service-related industry including hospitality and healthcare.
CII, with the support of the Tamil Nadu Skill Development Mission and the Government of Tamil Nadu, has carried out an in-depth analysis of the human resource potential of the State.
A copy of the report titled, ‘Human Resource Assessment for Tamil Nadu 2012’ was handed over to Mr Mohan Pyare, Principal Secretary, Department of Labour and Employment, Government of Tamil Nadu.
Mr Pyare said the Government had embarked on a programme to modernise the employment exchanges to make them ‘more citizen-friendly’. There was also a proposal to create private placement cells.
Mr R. Dinesh, Chairman, CII Tamil Nadu State Council and Joint Managing Director, TVS & Sons Ltd, said the focus must be on vocational stream of education and “we should try and create a ‘vocational university’ and also must intertwine vocational education in the formal education system”.
He also suggested public-private partnership in digitising the employment exchanges and skill development at lower levels would be beneficial for the eco-system.

Wednesday, 25 July 2012

Australia’s top vocational students recognized



Five hundred of the nation’s most skilled students have been recognised for their efforts in vocational education and training in schools.

Acting Minister for School Education, Senator Chris Evans, today announced the successful recipients of the 2011 Australian Vocational Student Prize and the Prime Minister’s Award for Skills Excellence in School.

“The Australian Vocational Student Prize recognises students who have demonstrated exceptional skills and commitment while completing a Vocational Education and Training in Schools program, or an Australian School-based Apprenticeship,” Senator Evans said.

“In addition, 20 students who strive to be the best and achieve outstanding results are awarded the Prime Minister’s Award for Skills Excellence in School.”

Winners of the Prime Minister’s Award for Skills Excellence in School are selected from the top Australian Vocational Student Prize recipients and are awarded in state and territory, industry and Indigenous categories. All 500 winners receive $2000 and a certificate recognising their achievements.

“Both of these prizes promote and recognise vocational education in schools as a valuable pathway for students,” Senator Evans said.

“Through their studies, winners of these awards have gained a better understanding of the workplace, and have developed industry-specific skills that will help them get work in their chosen career.”

The Australian Vocational Student Prize is the vocational equivalent of the academic Australian Student Prize, another initiative aimed at recognising the achievements of students and their schools.

“The Australian Vocational Student Prize and the Prime Minister’s Award for Skills Excellence in School are another part of the Gillard Government’s commitment to giving all Australian students world-class opportunities,” Senator Evans said.

“They are in addition to other support, including our $2.5 billion Trade Training Centres in Schools Program to help school to get an industry-standard qualification and our $4.1 million Indigenous Ranger Cadetship pilot program, which gives Indigenous students culturally relevant training for jobs in their local community including land, sea and natural resource management.”

Sunday, 15 July 2012

FICCI, AICTE join hands to bridge skill shortage in healthcare

Ficci has joined hands with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for developing vocational courses in the healthcare sector with a view to meeting the workforce shortage in the segment. 

The chamber said that an analysis of availability of healthcare human resources from the present bed capacity in the country and underlying demand for building additional capacity shows that the scenario is indeed "alarming". 

"In the next 10 years, the number of doctors needs to be doubled from its current figure of 750,000: nurses needs to be tripled from 3.7 million and the paramedics and technician assistants need to be quadrupled from the present number of 2.75 million," it said in a statement. 

It said that the rapid technological advancement in the medical, diagnostic and management systems are creating the need for new skills. 

"But there are limited formal training and education programmes in the country. Large corporate and privatehospitals run their own training programmes for such requirements which are not standardised and do not have national recognition," it said. 

To address these issues, Ficci has also set up a task force to improve the existing skill sets available in the country by identifying skill gaps and suggesting academic and training programs, related curriculum and appropriate training requirements. 

"For convergence and standardisation of such training programmes, FICCI is collaborating with AICTE to develop vocational courses in the healthcare domain," it said adding the practical training in hospitals is one of the fundamental elements of these programmes, which is aligned with industry requirement. 

Ficci has submitted 12 healthcare and paramedic course curricula to AICTE that include Bachelor in Paramedical Technician in laboratory, blood transfusion, radiography, operation theatre and critical care. 

"All the courses are competency-based modules and are open to revisions to ensure that the curriculum is guided by needs of the industry," it said. 

It added that the courses would soon be notified on AICTE's website and will be open to be taken up by the industry and educational institutes. 

Educational institutes such as schools, colleges and polytechnics will work in partnership with the skill knowledge providers like hospitals and laboratories to scale up the number of trained technicians in the country, it added. 

The AICTE is an advisory body in all matters relating to technical education.

Friday, 13 July 2012

Quality courses the key to Asian market, educators told


AUSTRALIA'S higher education sector has been challenged to focus on quality if it is to regain its position as a major destination for Chinese students.
David Finegold, the senior vice-president for Lifelong Learning and Strategic Growth at Rutgers University, said Australian institutions needed to accept they had lost their dominance of the Asian market, with the US, Canada and Europe increasingly important as education destinations.
''There's a huge hunger for high-quality opportunities at all levels - TAFE, higher education and graduate degrees,'' Professor Finegold said. ''But the question is going to be whether Australia can recover and really reassert its position where it was an early leader.''
Total overseas student numbers are down 22 per cent from a peak in 2008-09 yet the number of students leaving China is growing by more than 20 per cent a year.
China and India remain the key markets, home to 35 per cent of the global workforce. Australia's early success was built on proximity, value and the opportunity to pursue permanent residency. A booming dollar is wiping out the cost advantage, while visa rules have been tightened.
''The focus has to shift to quality and value,'' he said. ''The first wave might have been easy pickings. The government said you can go and recruit, they charged high fees and got lots of international students without having to ask: 'Are we delivering high-value education? Are we placing these students in good jobs?'.''
This view is echoed by the general manager, sales and marketing, of UTS:Insearch, Belinda Howell. ''Whereas Australia was accessible and well priced, it is now considerably more expensive than study in the US.''
As a lure, lifestyle will not work, Ms Howell emphasised.
''Chinese parents and students are much more goal-oriented than that. They are much more focused. The first question they ask agents is what is a good career for my child. Then it's what course do they have to do to get that career. And then, how much money will they earn and will they get a job,'' she said.
''We need to be articulating the benefits of Australia on that wavelength and not in terms of sun, surf and sand.''
An overseas education remained a huge expense for Chinese families, said Professor Finegold, who yesterday addressed an Adelaide conference organised by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research. But what has changed is an increasing desire to develop skills that can be used in their home country rather than hoping their degree will be a pathway to permanent residency.
''Now, the vast majority of students are looking to work for a few years and gain really good experience but they recognise that many of the best growth opportunities will be when they go back,'' he said.
Ms Howell predicted Australia's two-year post-university work visa would be a strong selling point.
''Students want things that are really powerful on their CV because they are all focused on what's going to differentiate them from millions of other students,'' she said.
''Australia needs to be much more at the forefront of promoting educational quality and the value of its education - not just to operate in Australia but to operate in any relevant environment.''


http://www.theage.com.au/national/quality-courses-the-key-to-asian-market-educators-told-20120712-21yvb.html 

Tuesday, 10 July 2012

NSDC Funded Organizations 10 - Centum Learning


In the series of informative articles about NSDC funded organizations, this is the 10th organization covered in this blog. For NSDC funded organizations 1 to 9 refer to articles published in the months August & September 2011.

Centum Learning Limited provides end-to-end training programmes and skill development solutions aimed at productivity improvement for businesses on one hand, and employability enhancement for youth on the other. It has conceptualized an innovative business model which addresses the entire talent supply chain ranging from students who have just passed Class 8 to Post Graduates and even professionals in large corporates.

Centum Learning’s offerings spread across four main verticals:

  1.            Corporate Training
  2.            Skill Development
  3.            Professional Education & Training
  4.            Employment Generation


Having a global presence across 17 countries in Africa, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Centum Learning comes with rich experience in the training and development domain across 21 industry verticals. With more than 1000 training and development specialists, Centum Learning works with many leading corporates including American Express, Airtel, Genpact, Maruti Suzuki, Delhi International Airport, PepsiCo, Bharti Walmart, HCL, Cummins, LG Electronics, JCB, Bharti AXA Life Insurance, Deutsche Bank, Motilal Oswal, Blue Dart, CEAT, Everest Industries etc. to impact their business goals.
Furthermore, in order to leverage India’s demographic dividend, Centum Learning has established Centum WorkSkills India Limited in partnership with National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC) to skill 12 million Indian youth and make them employable.
In the professional education space, the organization has set up more than 170 Centum Learning Centres in 150 cities spread across India to bridge the talent gap. In addition, Centum Learning has also launched Centum U which offers workforce degrees in association with globally acclaimed universities and institutes.


Ministry of Rural Development
·         Partnering with Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India to skill 20,000 youth across Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Punjab, Himanchal Pradesh and Orissa

·         Partnered with Ministry of Rural Development, Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana scheme to train & place 150 rural youth from the districts of Delhi under Skills Training for Employment Promotion against urban poor (STEP UP)

Ministry of Urban Development
·         Providing placement linked training with Bhopal Municipal Corporation under the project - Swarn Jayanti Shahri Rozgar Yojana

Ministry of Panchayati Raj
·         Partnering with Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Govt. of Orissa to train over 40,000 representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions, across 10 districts of Orissa

Ministry of Home Affairs
·         Providing vocational skills to youth comprising surrendered militants, on the Indo-Bhutan border in Assam, in association withSashastra Seema Bal

Govt of Assam
·         Enhancing employability of tribal youth in partnership with Department of Employment Craftsmanship and Training (DECT), Govt. of Assam

Govt of Gujrat
·         Signed an MoU with Industries Directorate Employment & Training, Govt. of Gujrat to establish four skill development centers

Employment Generation Marketing Mission (EGMM)
·         Partnered with Employment Generation Marketing Mission (EGMM), a society set up by the Department of Rural Development, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh to skill 5000 unemployed rural youth of the state

Directorate of Gas Relief and Rehabilitation
·         Entered into a collaboration with Directorate of Gas Relief & Rehabilitation to train & skill the family members of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy victims

Gurgaon Police
·         Skilled police force on being sensitive to the needs of the public, achieving communication excellence and providing service with integrity & compassion

Directorate General of Resettlement (DGR), Ministry of Defense
·         Imparted vocational skills in the area of Travel & Tourism to a retired pool of Indian Army personnel, Directorate General of Resettlement (DGR), Ministry of Defence


Corporate office

Centum Learning Limited
Neelagagan, Mandi Road, Sultanpur, Mehrauli,
New Delhi - 110030.
Ph - 91-11-46001100
Fax: 91-11-46001111
For more information write to:
jabasen.menon@centumlearning.com

Sunday, 8 July 2012

OBAMA-SINGH,,,,, Vocational Education



The education circle is abuzz with latest international tie-ups. Mahatma Gandhi University has partners in Brown, Duke and Plymouth State University while Banaras Hindu University has found an able ally in University of Pittsburgh.
With announcement of Obama-Singh 21st century Knowledge Initiative, United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF) has announced an open competition to support exchange of knowledge that may include but may not be limited to curriculum design, research collaboration, seminars and a host of other activities. These should be designed in a manner to create expertise, develop scholarship and teaching, and promote a consistent, long-term association with partner institutions.
Rutgers University is slated to partner with Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai to help fill dire needs of the world’s largest young workforce and widen their skills.
One of the main facets of the partnership is to create a new national and vocational multi-skill school in India that will train about one million people each year. A $250,000 grant from Obama-Singh Knowledge Initiative has been identified to fund Rutgers-Tata Institute’s efforts to build India’s higher education capacity.
In this regard, vocational-isation of secondary schooling is considered an important step in increasing vocational relevance of education and in helping students prepare for effective participation in any area of work. Right from 1st Five Year Plan to the 11th, importance of vocational education has been emphasised.
Though its introduction in secondary education may not be considered very appropriate for developed countries, India is looking at vocational education as a means to enhance individual employability and reduce mismatch between demand & supply of skilled manpower to industries and multinational companies. The Centre offers a set of sponsored schemes whereby financial assistance is provided to the states to set up administrative structure to conduct vocational surveys and prepare relevant curriculum, study handouts, training manual, teacher-training programme, support system for research and development, and evaluation among others.
Financial assistance is provided to NGOs and voluntary organisations for implementing specific and innovative projects and short-term courses.
Apart from the Obama-Singh Initiative, India has independent plans to broaden its trained skill force. Establishment of about 100 community colleges is in the blueprint stage.
CV Raman fellowship has been announced for first troupe of 300 faculty members for their post-doctorate research opportunities in USA. About 10,000 teaching professionals are scheduled to be sent over next five years.
Widening of skill development system, reform in higher education and development of scalable solutions are critical to India. These can quickly enhance quality and quantity of educational opportunities to 550 million Indians that are under 25 years of age. If implemented appropriately, The Obama-Singh initiative will go a long way in fulfilling this need and filling this gap. 
http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column_obama-singh-giving-boost-to-vocational-studies_1712222

Wednesday, 13 June 2012

BANK LOANS FOR VOCATIONAL COURSES

 In a landmark of sorts, theIndian Banking Association (IBA) has decided to extend the ambit of its Model Educational Loan Scheme to include vocational education and training. 

This means that all banks, which are associated with IBA, as well as a other banks that RBI may include, will now also offer education loans for students in the vocational sector. 

"Vocational courses offered by ITIs ( Industrial Training Institutes), ITCs ( Industrial Training Centres), polytechnics and other technical bodies were not covered in the Model Educational Loan Scheme. (Some banks do provide loans for three-year diploma courses offered by polytechnics.) However, in view of the initiatives being taken by the government of India in skill development in recent years, a need was felt for providing institutional funding for students undergoing specialized skill development programmes in recognized institutions. The government has estimated that the country would require 10 to 15 million skilled workers every year to support the development process," says the IBA circular on the model loan scheme for vocational education and training. 

S Ramadorai, Skills Advisor to the Prime Minister, believes that this is an extremely significant move. 

The new scheme will be applicable for those studying at institutions run by the government as well as recognized private institutions. People of any age can opt for this loan. 

For a course whose duration is up to three months, students can take a loan of Rs 20,000. The figure goes up to Rs 50,000 for a course between three and six months, and Rs 75,000 for a course between six month and a year. A loan of Rs 1.5 lakh can be awarded for students pursuing a course that is over a year long. Banks can consider loans worth higher amounts for course that are over a year long, or for specific courses offered by reputed institutions. 

Sunday, 27 May 2012


“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” 
― Albert Einstein

Every one has a talent. Every one  is good at something. Some of us are athletic, others more academic. Some are good in dramatics, some at caring for others, while some sing very well. Some of us are good at more than one thing.Maybe all of us are good at more than one thing.While some of us discover our abilities early in life, others take time to discover what they may be good with.

 The purpose of education is to prepare us to live fulfilling and meaningful life by discovering and nurturing the intelligence and interests each one of us possess. However, the present system of schooling doesn't help in discovering and nurturing all kind of talents/intelligence that a child may have. Even if one's aptitude is discovered in school, there is very little to nurture it as the schools curriculum is designed to  assess and conduct tests to certify for being good in few academic subjects only. Rest of all are extra curricular. 

We spend 6-7 hours daily for more than a decade in schools. What a loss if this time is not utilized to discover,explore, understand, uncover, understand, practice, experiment and develop to make us proficient in the one or many talents we have. 

In India, we now have RTE (Right to Education) Act, making it compulsory for children from 6-14 years to be educated. We also have various Govt. programs like SSA and RMSA spending lots of money on building schools, recruiting and training teachers for the same kind of Education system which is wasteful and unsuccessful to discover the genius in each child and make him skillful in his aptitude. These Programs are focusing on the coverage i.e. the quantity and the quality and the delivery has not changed. All this effort is wasteful for millions enrolled in school system if they are not able to transform their capabilities into abilities.




http://agoodschool.blogspot.in/2012/05/teaching-fish-to-climb-trees.html

Thursday, 23 February 2012

Now, a college degree in vocational education

 For years, India's basic collegiate education had been segregated into three distinct academic islands: the masses pursued humanities, the ones with shining score cards took to the sciences and the rest who wanted to pick up the tools of trade, opted for commerce. Now students can venture into a fourth dimension: a bachelor's in vocation education. 

From the upcoming academic season, colleges across the country will offer a bachelor's degree in vocation education, thus underpinning a stream that has always languished for the want of a formal degree. Sensing the gap in the system, the move to offer the BVoc is largely in response to the hungry local manufacturing industry's requirement for top-grade workforce, and partly because several graduates from the existing traditional streams were jobless and deemed unemployable. 

"Our standing committee has cleared the proposal to offer the bachelor's in vocational educationand once the commission clears it, any college in India which is affiliated to a university, can offer this programme," said in-charge chairman of the University Grants Commission Ved Prakash. "We need to prepare a large workforce and it is time we build capacity at the graduate level." 



Vocational education, or life skills, as it was sometimes derided as, mostly attracted the lower rungs of the society, the ones ready to dirty their hands. They eventually went on to earn a diploma and then work on factory floors. 

While ripping that perception and lending this course the much-needed academic might and respect, the UGC's decision's biggest apostle is industry. The move was initiated by the All India Council for Technical Education which has identified 10 sectors like entertainment, telecom, construction, printing and publishing and suchlike that need specialized graduates. "These courses will provide vocational skills and general education, thus providing vocational graduates with multiple pathways," said AICTE chairman S S Mantha. "The USP (unique selling point) of the course is that students can leave the course any time and come back to it to pursue further studies," he added. 

While the UGC is yet to drawn up a detailed regulation for the new programme, there are plans to allow students to shift from BVoc to arts, science or commerce, thus not punishing students for signing up for the new course. 

For middle-class Indian parents, vocational education was never even an option for it didn't inspire much academic thinking; worse, it didn't even lead to a degree. To date, vocational education was offered in India's it is (Industrial Training Institutes) and the three other conventional streams-the humanities, science and commerce-were its prestigious rivals. Now opting for a vocational education won't be equivalent to taking a road less travelled.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/Now-a-college-degree-in-vocational-education/articleshow/12011429.cms

Wednesday, 22 February 2012

Vocational Education..... India... An overview of 2011


·         Indians spend $600 billion, yearly on education. With $600 billion yearly overall education spend at comparable prices; India’s education sector is bigger than that of the US. India is the 9th highest in the world. India’s yearly growth in overall education spend, at 15%, is also one of the fastest in the world.
“India will account for 20 per cent of the world’s global workforce in 2020s. The average age of Indian workforce will be 29 years as compared to 37 for the US and China and 45 years for Europe”, Kapil Sibal, minister for human resource development, communications and IT said at the India Economic Summit 2011 in Mumbai.

The estimated CAGR of private revenue in Indian education, at 19% during ’11-’15, is also one of the fastest in the world. Skill and vocational training are emerging as big opportunities for private players. High growth, scarcity of investable opportunities and the recession-proof nature of the sector are likely to keep valuations high.
From $30 billion in 2012, private education revenue is set to reach $45 billion by 2015.  K-12 ($20 billion), technical education ($12billion), coaching ($8 billion) and pre-school ($3 billion)
Urban affluent spend 10.4% of the total consumer spend towards private education. The rural poorest spends just 1.4% of wallet on education. With the median income elasticity of demand for education at near 2, a 1% rise in per capita income leads to a 2% jump in education spend, mostly on private education. This is the key driver of the sector.
Never before in the history of any country has human capital development been such a key focus area as 2011 was for India, marking the beginning of better times.
The huge demographic dividend India can for sure reap from its large young population, with 250 mn to 400mn people joining the employment market between now and 2025 to fuel its growth. This is a staggering number by any standards.  However, to become productive these huge numbers have to be suitably trained to avoid large scale unemployment, which needs greater emphasis than rejoicing the fact that we have the largest youngest population in comparison to other countries.

To be more specific, 109 million persons will attain working age during the period of 2007-2012. The net addition to workforce is, therefore, expected to grow to 89 million of which around 13 million are likely to be graduates/post graduates and about 57 million are likely to be school drop outs or illiterates. A significant share of incremental demand is likely to be for skilled labour - graduates and vocationally trained people are expected to account for 23% of incremental demand by 2012. The study further estimates that India is likely to increase deficit of 5.25 million employable graduates and vocationally trained workforce by 2012.
Vocational education could be a great way to counter this challenge guised opportunity. India’s current capacity for vocational training is just about 4 to 5 mn per anum against a requirement of 10 times that. Hence focusing on vocational education is of primary importance.
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.

In 2006, a World Bank report on skill development and vocational training in India spelt it out for all - "The relative supply of workers with technical/vocational skills has declined. This may be due to the fact that workers with technical/vocational qualifications do not have the skills that meet the labour market needs - often because of the poor quality of training provided."

Why is it so? How can we change this scenario?

Vocational education is still considered as the poor cousin of university education, by the urban middle class in this country. This is largely because it is directly linked to the perceived low-status manual work. As it exists today, vocational education perpetuates the iniquitous social hierarchy in the country. We need a system that treats vocational subjects as an honourable option and offers them as a serious alternative for students, regardless of their class, caste, region or any other marker of socio-economic status.


The major challenges or questions we need to answer are:

1.    How do we begin imparting vocational skills to a staggering millions quoted above? (Most of these youngsters are in the age group of 15 to 25 years belonging to lower middle class, could be school dropouts or even a graduates who is in search of a way to support a living .)
2.    Where can we find suitable instructors? There is serious shortage of skilled teachers, finding the welders, machinists, carpenters, electricians, beauticians, gardeners, English language trainers, computer skills instructors and multiple others to handle good vocational skill instruction is a task that boggles the minds of the policy makers.
3.    How will we create jobs at places where these students reside?
4.    If they are provided jobs at place far off from their homes (From villages / towns to cities) how will they relocate with the current salaries and facilities provided?
5.    How these youngsters sustain with meager salaries they are offered? (The salaries range from Rs.4,500 to Rs.6,000…. How can an individual support himself and his family with this kind of an earning)
6.    The employers are skeptical of employing these youngsters due to reasons such as
a.    Lack of experience (Employers prefer experienced staff over youngsters who have just completed the course of a short duration)
b.    Salary constraints (Employers over salaries which are way below employment seekers expectations)
c.    Facilities (Employment seekers expect facilities such as stay and food which may not be provided by the employees

What is the most important factor which rule the decision of a CAREER ASPIRANT whether or not take up Vocational Training and specifically paid Training?

Here the career aspirant is the consumer and  going to the consumer point of view, a young man / woman’s desire to pay and enroll into a Vocational Training Course is solely dependent on the difference he / she sees between the compensation potential before and after being trained.

The major questions which arise are:
1.   Do organizations see any value difference between untrained vs trained while choosing candidates for employment?
2.   If yes how do we quantify the value difference?
3.   What would be the compensation premium they would be willing to pay for this trained vs untrained employee?

The major factors to be considered are:
1.   Demand for Trained employees.
2.   Quality of Training / Skilling provided.
3.   Industry-Academia association /partnerships
4.   Location of the training organization and probable employers

The major aspects to be taken care of are:

1.   Identifying skill requirements and course offerings exactly matching the needs
2.   Training the trainers to match the industry standards and constant faculty training and assessment to maintain quality of training
3.   Internship / On the job training
4.   Placement partnerships
5.   Striking a balance between affordability of the course and profitability of the venture
6.   Tie ups with bankers to fund the course fee /student loans

It would be preferable if:
1.   The design of the vocational system will not compel students to choose too early between the vocational and academic paths.
2.   Vocational education system must offer students the possibilities of switching between the vocational and the academic paths if they wish to do so. Offering this flexibility is a definite route to reducing the social burden of any choice, i.e. making all educational choices “honourable”.
3.   In order to ensure flexibility it would be good to have a vocational education method that is integrated with the basic education system on one end, and with higher education system on the other. An integrated system will erase sharp distinctions between “vocational” and “academic” streams, thereby increasing the probabilities of youngsters to opt for Vocational education who are inclined towards higher education.
4.   A flexible, localized vocational education system, built integrated with effective basic education will easily be accepted and embraced by the rural and semi-urban societies.

 

Let us declare 2012 as year of 'Proud to be Skilled Indian' says Vijay Thadani CEO of NIIT Limited and Chairman of CII's Northern Region.




“We should also look at launching events such as 'Indian Skills Idol' and have popular brand ambassadors to endorse pride in skills. Then we will not be apologetic about our 1.2 billion population. We can be an enviable reservoir of 1.2 billion skilled people.”
Skills development in India got an impetus when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh constituted the National Council on Skills Development in 2008 and the National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC) thereafter. For NSDC, this year has been one of the best -- a-one-of-its-kind public-private partnerships formed to contribute significantly to the charter of skilling Indians.

NSDC forged many new partnerships to train people, including joint ventures with the Bharti Group for 11.5 million, with Everonn for 15 million, with Future Group for seven million and with NIIT for another seven million. As of its last month's report, they have approved 34 training projects and eight sector skills councils, covered 177 districts, set up 2,427 centres, touched 20 sectors and have already set up the foundation required to train 58.6 million people in 10 years.

In addition, under a special scheme, industry showed interest in joining hands with NSDC to induct youth from Jammu and Kashmir to train them in special skills at their facilities across India. Appointment of an industry veteran, former Tata Consultancy chief executive S. Ramadorai as an advisor to the prime minister in NSDC with the rank of a cabinet minister, is yet positive move this year.
Private participation extended beyond NSDC and many companies came forward. Fiat India Automobiles launched "Diksha" to provide educational avenues and technical training for youth. Axis Bank and Bandhan jointly launched a Rs.100-crore initiative on providing skills training and assets to the marginalized in West Bengal. Job creation remained a key challenge
The government could create only one million jobs against the target of 50 million jobs during the 11th Plan period that ends March 31, 2012. It has now set a enterprising target of creating 60 million jobs during the 12th Five Year Plan.
As a step towards this, the government unveiled a new Manufacturing Policy that promises 100 million new jobs. India is also on the path to dusting off the Apprentices Act to create an industry-driven apprenticeship regime.
2011 was the first year when the WorldSkills Competition got significant coverage in the media in India. A 16-member India contingent participated in the competition in London. While Indians did not win any medals, they surely showed the determination to become the skills reservoir of the world by participating in the event.
As we move to the next year, we appear to be in the right direction, even though we know we have a long way to go. Skills do not form the social fabric of India as yet. To have social currency in India, the acceptable tags are generally of an engineer, a doctor, a master of business administration. Skills, such as plumbing, electrician and masonry have little social currency, and this is evident even in our matrimonial advertisements. Changing the social perception about skills, therefore, is our big challenge for 2012. Creating a social norm called 'Get Skilled' should be one of our key focus areas.

In India we observe a complex amalgamation of factors relating to poverty, home environment, social pressures and so on to which teenage children are susceptible. The child who drops out of the schooling system due to any of the above factors can rarely be brought back into training. In plain economics, they are already in the unorganized job sector and leaving it for vocational training constitutes a significant opportunity cost for them and their families. In other words, even free training has a cost that many are unable or unwilling to bear. 

What then are we to do if we are to make an impact on a set of problems of this magnitude?

CATCH THEM YOUNG AND WATCH THEM GROWshould be our motto

·         The first place to start is undoubtedly the school where we can formally allow a parallel stream of vocation education in the 9th and 10th standards. (To promote vocational Training in schools, the Govt. has established a vocational cell within the CBSE, this scheme also helps to create a bridge between academia and industry) Students who are weak academically but have other strong abilities ought to be given a choice and counseled on this path, which will have academic elements, especially English and Math, but in a simpler form.

·          Each school needs to set up labs / workshops for supporting training activities.

·          If this is not possible in the school premises due to space constraints, there should be a tie up with partners who are offering vocational training; essentially they could be NSDC partners who are entitled to offer vocational training.

·          A local network with industry, restaurants, retail establishments, and technical institutions/colleges in the area needs to be established so that an element of practical training can be brought into the curriculum and other resources leveraged.
 
·         Finally, a certificate could be issued by the state, the school or the training partner, once the student has successfully completed the vocational training requirements. This may not hold the same status of an SSLC but will be far better than letting the child drop out with nothing to show for his or her future. 

The above model could use skilled people drawn from the extensive pool of unorganized labour as faculty. These skilled trainers can be made to go through a train the trainers program to fill gaps in their approach or methodology.

In the construction industry for example, we have many carpenters, plumbers etc., who are skilled and experienced, but not educated in the conventional sense. If these people are brought in as faculty and seconded to a vocational training faculty from the school who handles the formalization of the instruction, there could be a complete win-win for both the student and the trainer.

We are at a cusp situation where we need to face the challenge of Streamlining the Vocational Training Structure in order to reap the benefits of the huge potential of Human Resource in India.