digitalLEARNING-June-2011-[8-15]-cover story

cover cover story story

Developing

Professionals from

GrassRoot Level In order to cater to the drop out and unemployment issues, value of vocationalistion of secondary education has been realised. Tapping its potential to transform the economics of India, National Vocational Qualification framework has been announced by MHRD and soon will be introduced

By Pragya Gupta, digitalLEARNING Bureau

8

www.digitalLEARNING.in

cover story

I

n burgeoning economies like India, a prerequisite of skills and training for the workforce is obligatory. With the advantage of population, India does not have a dearth of manpower but of skilful workforce and employment. These two major challenges are interrelated and addressing one, the creation of skilled workforce, can resolve the both. To address this challenge, need for apt quality education is mandatory. It is rightly said that foundation of education starts from the primary level and higher education is just to foster that talent. While in the economic sphere, we have professional in the ‘so called’ mainstream professions; we also need workforce to attend to the shop floors and to suit the local industry requirements.

According to census 2001 figures, more than two million graduates are

unemployed, and current census would be much higher than that, indicating a need for a mature education system. To control the situation, there is a requirement to amend the existing curriculum and give students liberty and right environment to take their favourite career path. Higher education in India is not visibly accessible to most of the rural youth, therefore, villager restrain their children from availing secondary school. This is because education does not seem meaningful to them as they are forced to follow their family occupation of agriculture, which does not necessarily require formal education. But if agriculture would have been there in the curriculum then it could make them interested in learning and taking the family legacy forward in better way with enhanced skills.

According to Technopark, Management Consultancy company report, education market in India is emerging as one of the world’s largest consumers of education services with a target population of close to 450 million (in the age band of 5-24 years). This number is expected to increase to 486 million by 2025, exceeding the combined target population in China (354 million) and US (91 million). In India, public and private spending aggregates to approximately US$ 100 billion per annum and private spends on education have grown at a CAGR of 10 per cent since 1994. In fact, compared to other developed countries, private spends in India are relatively higher (4 per cent of GDP).

India’s economy has witnessed continuous positive growth, which has led to a huge demand for a workforce in

India. Recent economic surveys show that employment growth has been the largest in the Services sector, and this trend is in all likelihood going to grow in the future. Also, technological product and service innovations have fuelled the demand for more skilled workers.

This demand has not been met, due to unavailability and poor quality of skilled workers. There is a lack of training facilities and skill development in as many as 20 high-growth industries such as logistics, healthcare, construction, hospitality and automobiles.

India’s present education systems have been focusing on giving maximum input without taking real output into consideration. Children, today, still memorise their lessons and not able to comprehend the basic concept. There is a need to integrate skills into the curriculum. Vocationalisation of education at the secondary level does not allow students to remain unemployed. This falls true in the rural context where majority of the population resides. There is a strong need to identify creativity and convert it into innovation, enhancing the logical and interpretational skills and providing better career opportunities.

Country demands reservoir of knowledge and to create these knowledge pool we need to start from the grassroots.

India is at the crossroads as 20 million children go to schools but only 12.4 per cent out of them go to colleges whereas in the US the percentage of students joining college after secondary schools is 40. To fill this gap, India has to focus not only on science and maths education but also on the other practical subjects leading to the lifelong learn-

(Source: National Data Bank) digitalLEARNING / june 2011

9

cover story

ing skills too. Introduction of Vocational Education in school will help in creating interest among and students and hence minimise the drop out by making education meaningful for them.

However, Vocational Education has been offered through different channels like ITI (Industrial Training Institute), Polytechnics and PPPs (Public Private Partnership) but now, recognising its importance, it has been introduced at

“There was a need to build a framework which provided a system of certification for the selected choices and provided options for vertical mobility from school to university” Shri Kapil Sibal

Union Human Resource Development Minister, Government of India

10

www.digitalLEARNING.in

the level of secondary education. The key objective of vocational education is to help develop individuals’ skills in very specific field by giving them applied or concrete experience in certain vocations or trades. This not only makes them employable but also helps create opportunities for entrepreneurship.

With the idea of encompassing vocational education in schools, in the last quarter of 2010, Union Human Resource Development Minister, Shri Kapil Sibal announced a proposal to have National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) Framework for schools under which the Centre is introducing 5001,000 vocations in schools all over the country so that the students passing out from schools are equipped with necessary skills for employment. The minister also highlighted that the country needs a policy framework for vocational studies as every student does not aspire to be a doctor or an engineer. He suggested that the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) also provides degrees in vocational studies. Each State should decide on the issue as per its local needs and situations. Students passing out in vocational studies should get collateral entry into colleges for further studies.

Sharda Prasad, Director General,

Directorate General Employment and Training (DGE&T), Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India, “Our Ministry aims to skill the youth, including drop-outs from schools and colleges. They, therefore, form our target groups. Furthermore, to elaborate the NVQ Framework provides a mechanism and pathways to move from academic education to vocational training to a career and backwards. There is vertical mobility. For instance, a plumber can move vertically by becoming a master plumber that is equivalent to junior engineer, or senior engineer or even a Ph.D. Second is the horizontal mobility.

After plumbing, if the person wants to do nursing or pursue higher studies, we have the provision to facilitate it. National Qualification Framework supports the latter, so that you can move up in the same discipline and also horizontally by providing equivalence. We are preparing a comprehensive National Qualification Framework, in consonance with different Indian ministries.”

Speaking on the need of vocational education, Sonia Nagpal, MD, i360 Staffing & Training Solutions Pvt Ltd, “The time has come that the nation should accept this fact that along with primary-secondary education, we need vocational training also as everyone cannot become an engineer, doctor, accountant or a lawyer. Vocational training plays an essential role in an individual’s growth which in turn results in the growth of a nation and its economy”.

Challenges Though there is a growing demand for vocationally trained workers, the segment per se has not really picked up in India because of various reasons.

Social stigma has been attached to vocational education and training as manual or industrial jobs were perceived as low paying and meant for low-caste communities. Largely because of this, students who completed their higher secondary education are more inclined towards academic or professional courses. Due to this attitude, the vocational education and training segment is suffering from poor enrolment. Some school principals in Delhi and NCR have aptly

cover story

“The NVQ Framework provides a mechanism and pathways to move from academic education to vocational training to a career and backwards. There is vertical mobility” Sharda Prasad

Director General, Employment and Training, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India

stated, on the reason for low adoption, that parents have not taken introduction of vocational education very positively and are apprehensive about these courses in school and feel that it will divert student’s attention from core subjects.

Agreeing to this concern, Preeti D’mello, Regional Director-Indian Subcontinent, Edexcel says, “To enhance the quality of education India, Vocational education is mandatory and overall we have received an overwhelming response for vocational education from students and teachers.

I think that you need to show the value of this education to the society. It has to do with Issue pertaining to the strata of society we live in. Furniture designer is considered to be in top level thing and carpenter is not. This has to be changed with mind shift.”

More recent information suggests that the enrolment figure is less than 3 per cent of the students attending Grades 11-12.

The weighted average capacity utilisation of the schools receiving grants is less than 50 per cent. This implies that the 350,000400,000 students enrolled in vocational education comprise 3 per cent of the 15 million students or more in Grades 11 and 12. Thus, what it eventually means is that less than 1 per cent of students who had entered Grade 1 over the last decade or so would have eventually participated in vocational education. It is also widely recognised that the existing student capacity in ITIs/ITCs largely goes unutilised.

Due to societal pressure, adoption of vocational course is low therefore system is failed to attract good teachers in

this field. Revision of existing curricula and introduction of new courses is also one of the reasons. It has seen that in some states, the course curriculum has not been updated for 20 or more years, so even if students have completed VET qualifications, they may not be employable in modern industry. Due to the transition of the Indian economy from being agriculture-based to knowledge-based, it is all the more imperative to have new and revised courses which fulfil the requirement of modern industries. Of the trained candidates, the labour market outcomes as seen from placement/ absorption rates are reportedly very low.

Good trainers have always been an issue with vocational education in India.

Because of societal pressures, the segment has failed to attract good mentors. Teachers in general are poorly paid in India and

the salaries of teachers in VET have been at the lower end of the spectrum. In many cases, in rural polytechnics or technical institutes, the teachers themselves have had only basic education.

There exists a provision for the participation of industry representatives/ experts in the setting of curriculum and hiring of apprentices, there is still a significant mismatch between industry skill requirements and the talent pool emerging from ITIs/ITCs. This has contributed to low success in the labour market for VET graduates. The private sector largely undertakes in-house training programmes but training to outsiders is very limited, restricted to catering to their own felt needs in the nature of captive skill development. This is largely because of the fear of losing trained skilled workers to competition which has resulted in constant shortages in private investment in this area.

Opportunities in Vocational Education Job Opportunities There are certain service or job sectors that Vocationalistion of education has certainly given an impetus to certain service sectors giving rural youth economic opportunities to contribute to the country’s growth. RIS (Research and Information System for Developing Countries) report released by Shri Kamal Nath, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, revealed that exports

“To enhance the quality of education in India, Vocational education is mandatory and overall we have received an overwhelming response for vocational education from students and teachers” Preeti D’mello

Regional Director-Indian Subcontinent, Edexcel

digitalLEARNING / june 2011

11

cover story

The RIS report identifies the

following 12 export sectors as employment intensive: • • • • • • • • • • • •

Textiles & garments Leather goods Gems & jewellery Cereal exports Horticulture exports Flowers, fruits and vegetables Dairy products Processed foods Toys and sports goods Pharmaceutical industry Automobiles and auto components Consumer electronics and electronic hardware

lakh indirect) in the economy in the next five years”. The report further says that If India is able to exploit export opportunities in labour intensive goods and follow labour intensive modes of production, India’s merchandise exports in 2009-10 could reach US $ 165 billion which would generate 21 million (i.e. 210 lakh) new jobs (directly and indirectly).

“The toy industry represents a classic case of a highly employment intensive industry with a sizeable international market of US $ 80 billion where India has failed to make a mark. The international market of toys is dominated by China which has a 75 per cent market share whereas India’s share is an appalling 0.4 per cent. This is an industry where India needs to make a determined effort to enter the world market”, the report says.

The private sector largely undertakes in-house training programmes but training to outsiders is very limited, restricted to catering to their own felt needs in the nature of captive skill development emerged as a major source of job creation in India 1.4 million incremental jobs created through exports in 200405 – exports to directly generate 8 million new jobs by 2009.

In 2004-05, the export sector is reported to have generated incremental direct employment of 1.4 million over the previous year, bringing the total employment generated by the export sector in India to 9 million (i.e., 90.06 lakh) jobs, corresponding to exports amounting to nearly US $ 80 billion achieved during the year. This is besides the exportrelated indirect jobs created through backward linkages and in logistics and related sectors which are estimated to add up to another 6.9 million (i.e. 69.66 lakh) jobs. In all, merchandise export activity seems to sustain nearly sixteen million jobs currently.

Referring to the target of doubling exports to US $ 150 billion by 2009-10, the report says that “achievement of this target of exports is likely to generate 136 lakh new jobs (81.57 lakh direct and 54.61

12

www.digitalLEARNING.in

Key Policy Initiatives in Vocational Education and Training in India In accordance with the priority accorded to Vocational Education in the National Policy on Education, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Vocationalisation of Secondary Education was launched in February, 1988. The main objectives of the Scheme of Vocationalisation of Secondary education, as spelt out in the NPE are to provide diversification of educational opportunities so as to enhance individual employability, reduce the mismatch between demand and supply of skilled manpower and to provide an alternative for those pursuing higher education.

Basic Components of the Scheme was creation of separate administrative structure at the State, District, school level to manage vocational education programmes, strengthening of SCERTs to provide technical support for research, development, training and evaluation, conducting district vocational surveys in all the districts for assessment of labour market demand.

A complete Central assistance is given for district Vocational surveys, workshops for development of curriculum, instructional material, a text book, training of teachers, equipment, construction of work sheds, monitoring, evaluation and field visits. The Central Government bears 75 percent of expenditure on salary of management staff at the State Directorates, SCERTs and district levels and for raw material. The State Government have to bear 100 percent expenditure on contingencies, examination, certification and vocational guidance.

Management Structure A Joint Council of Vocational Education has been set up at the National level under the Chairmanship of the Minister for Human Resource Development for coordination, policy planning and review.

State Governments were also requested to set up State Council of Vocational Education as the overall co-ordinating and implementing body at the State level. The Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Pre-Vocational Education at Lower Secondary Stage was launched in 1993-94 with the objective imparting training in simple marketable skills to the students of class IX and X. Assistance has been provided so far to 10 States/UTs for introduction of pre-vocational courses in 652 schools.

State Initiatives A Central Institution of Vocational Education named “Pandit Sunderlal Sharma Central Institute of Vocational Education (PSSCIVE)” was set up at Bhopal in 1993 under the overall umbrella of NCERT. The Institute acts as an apex level research and development organisation in the field of vocational education and provides directs and academic support to the programmes National Vocational Qualification Framework Recognising the high demand for skill in the country, in 2009, CABE (Central Advisory Board of Education) emphasised the need for a National Vocational Qualification Framework to provide a common reference framework for link-

cover story

AD IL&FS page 13

digitalLEARNING / june 2011

13

cover story

Though open schooling has limited functions in the context of supporting Right to Education (RTE), the general body resolved the following in the context of RTE and RMSA (Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan) as supplementary support to the school education system in terms of vocational training: •

•

•

Establishing linkages between vocational training and academic courses for value addition to the qualifications earned by youth to enhance their employability; Developing programmes on basic education and equivalency programmes with integrating vocational training for the neo-literates to support Sakshar Bharat programme of the government of India.

The general body also discussed the road map developed by NIOS for Vocational Education and Training and strategy for integration of same with academic courses. The GB resolved the following: • Launching of vocational stream courses at senior secondary level for developing a career path for the youth, who otherwise cannot have access to higher education system; • Developing a need based vocational courses for skill development on the priority sectors through Public Private Partnership (PPP) strategy; • Developing competency based modular courses for skill training with the provision of credit accumulation and transfer; • Up-scaling specially designed skill development programmes like “Hunar” for the disadvantaged groups in the states for meeting the livelihood requirement of the youths; • Developing a frame work for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) to certify the skills acquired by the in-formal means of training; • Developing web based training modules with e-content and Open Educational Resources (OER) in the courses to priority service sector colleges.

• Augmenting the use of infrastructure available in the formal education system in a collaborative and network model for meeting the skill training requirement in the country; • Undertaking training of vocational teachers and developing courses on life skill.

ing various vocational qualifications and setting common principles and guidelines for a nationally recognised qualification system and standards in the 75th Meeting of the CABE was held in June, 2010 under the Chairmanship of Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister of Human Resource Development.

In 2010, Shri Kapil Sibal announced that MHRD will be ready with National Vocational Qualification Framework by 2011. The National Vocational Qualification Framework would benefit the students to take up a job and especially those who are not able to do higher studies.

The curriculum framework is in progress with consultations with the industries like telecom, infrastructure and automobile. The training is proposed to begin at school level and will be divided

14

www.digitalLEARNING.in

in ten levels. From class VII onwards students would be provided with courses like carpentry and Para-medical simultaneously with their regular subjects.

“We are in the process of bringing vocational education into the school system. Vocational courses like music, automobile engineering, tourism, hospitality and paramedical will be available for students,” said Shri Sibal A group of State Education Ministers were set up to find out ways in order to strengthen vocational education at all levels and develop a wide consensus on the outline of the proposed National Vocational Qualifications Framework.

The aim of India’s national skill development policy is to give training to 50 crore people by 2022.

The main purpose of such a frame-

work is setting up common principles and guidelines for a nationally recognised qualification system, covering schools, vocational education institutes and institutes of higher education with qualifications ranging from secondary to doctorate level, leading to international recognition of national standards.

CBSE’s Initiative Shri Kapil Sibal has set up a core group, headed by Ashok Leyland Limited Managing Director R Seshasayee, to develop a curriculum for vocational courses in the automotive sector. The other members of the group are S S Mantha, Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Ashok Thakur and N K Sinha, Additional Secretaries in the Human Resource Development Ministry, and Subhash Khuntia, Former Joint Secretary, Bureau of Secondary Education, Union Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Similar meeting has been organised for with representatives of other sectors such as IT and Telecom, Entertainment, Hospitality, Construction, and Financial Services and Insurance.

Shri Sibal said that there was a need to build a framework which provided a system of certification for the selected choices and provided options for vertical mobility from school to university.

He further underlined the need to develop a curriculum which is needbased and caters to the different aspects of the automobile industry. He called for active collaboration with the automobile industry to develop the curriculum for this qualification framework, as also for the support system for handson training, virtual training and software training. He pointed out that 39 million students pass out from class 12, of which only one million get an opportunity to be empowered through vocational education.

Students had no motivation to opt for the vocational stream, and trainers as well as students needed to be incentivised for attracting them for the vocational stream. According to them, the manpower produced at the vocational, polytechnic or at degree level lacks required core competence needed for the

cover story

industry. The so-called skilled manpower is further required to be trained for 2-3 years to shape them as per industry requirement.

“It is anticipated that by 2020, about 220 million students will pass out from school, out of which about 150 million will not enroll for college education. This young talent needs to be motivated for vocational education,” members said.

In addition to the core skills of the automobile industry, there is a felt need of skilled drivers, mechanics and other skilled manpower for proper servicing of latest automobiles. There is a huge shortage of skilled manpower and no suitable framework available to cater to the needs of the services and sales sector in the automotive industry, the delegates pointed out.

They said the industry would come forward and collaborate with the institutions by providing the required hardware and suitable trainers to teach the aspirants of vocational stream.

Time has come when vocational education should be treated equally as mainstream education. “It’s time we

“It’s time we present vocational education as an alternative to engineering and medical streams. It will not only create numerous jobs, but also boost the industrial sector as a whole” Subhash Khuntia

Former Joint Secretary, Bureau of Secondary Education, Union Ministry of Human Resource Development vocational courses at secondary school level,” stated the resolution issued by assistant secretary Seema Dhamdhere.

Swati Mujumdar pointed that there was a need to introduce vocational courses at Class VIII level. To do away with the dropout rate, it is necessary to give vocational training to the students that will provide them employment opportunities.

The World Bank Report indicates that employers prefer students with general education skills in addition to vocational skills present vocational education as an alternative to engineering and medical streams. It will not only create numerous jobs, but also boost the industrial sector as a whole. “said Shri Khuntia.

The state has taken the initiative to introduce vocational education at the secondary school level from Class VIII. The move is a part of the national drive to provide vocational training to 550 million students by 2022.

“The committee has been assigned the responsibilities such as setting up vocational university where under and postgraduate vocational courses could be taught, reviewing the present syllabus of vocational courses at Class XI and XII level, providing lateral and vertical mobility to students of vocational courses, recommending ways of accreditation for vocational courses and introducing

The World Bank Report 2006 (Skill Development in India) indicates that employers prefer students with general education skills in addition to vocational skills. Therefore, to make students more market worthy, curriculum in schools or institutions providing vocational education and training must emphasise on equipping students with general academic skills which may include problem solving, analysing, business development and marketing skills.”

“An independent vocational university with industry participation is also the need of the hour. With an independent university, students will be able do undergraduate courses that are required and designed by the industry.

The present vocational courses can be affiliated to the new varsity,” said Mujumdar.

NIOS’ initiative In December 2010, Shri Kapil Sibal urged the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) to provide vocational training to students while chairing the 19th general body meeting of the NIOS Society. He also asked them to look at starting a vocational degree in addition to their class XII degree.

Shri Sibal said that skills education with an element of formal education can be the basis for this vocational degree in Class XII. The architecture of the programme could be such that a student can move back from vocational educational to the normal schooling degree if he wants to. He also asked NIOS to devise a special strategy for states that need the maximum support. The NIOS is an autonomous institution formed by the HRD ministry providing formal education through open schooling system.

In the general body meeting was presided over by Union Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD) Kapil Sibal as president of the Society and cochaired by Minister of State for HRD D. Purandeswari, Shri Sibal, while endorsing the road map of NIOS expressed his desire that the NIOS should emerge as a model distance learning institution with emphasis on catering to the contemporary needs of the country which has targeted to achieve 500 million skilled people by 2020.

D. Purandeswari suggested that NIOS needs to rise from its ivory tower and emerge as a credible institution in the field of open learning.\\ digitalLEARNING / june 2011

15