Vocational Education

Vocational Education 

  The Central Government had initiated vocational secondary education from 1988, but this programme has never shown appreciable results. In its present form, Skills Education has been conducted since 2009. In order to make the secondary level more inclusive, the idea of vocational education to go along with Socially Useful Productive Work (SUPW) is being given importance these days. Educational experts have been emphasizing employability as a criterion along with equity and excellence in education, but experience over the past quarter century has not been good. Unfortunately, this experience in vocational education has not been reviewed and researchbased policy directions have not been developed. There have been major problems with integrating the vocational stream with the academic stream. In fact the numerous streams of vocational education, technical and polytechnic training and recently introduced skills training have only  added to the confusion and lack of purpose of vocational education at this important stage of human life. Higher education is primarily tasked with creating a cohesive and well-integrated citizenry that will help sustain the values of democracy, secularism and scientific temper in our nation and society. It is not meant to instill a narrow emphasis on physical skills to the detriment of intellectual knowledge. In fact, in the modern high technology environment, physical skills without intellectual advancement will never deliver what is required in different categories of the working population. Just think of information and communications technology, bio-technology, nanotechnology, renewable energy and so on which are at the cutting edge of industries and therefore integral to the advancement that counties want to pursue. Skills in any of these disciplines can be acquired only by combining technical knowledge with physical skills. Therefore, a narrow emphasis on physical skill-training is inimical to the very essence of higher education in a society that is modernizing and looking ahead to the future. The proposed NEP adopts and recommends a narrow interpretation of “skills” and “training” as if these are disconnected from “education” whereas “know-how” and “know why” are equally components for modern vocations. Emphasis on physical skills and professional competence cannot be at the expense of Critical Learning Skills.