Prof K S Chandrasekar
Internationally vocational education has gained more importance considering the lack of manpower in skill areas. All universities in France, Germany, UK, USA, Japan and China have started investing in this area seriously. Vocational stream in India has always been considered secondary as most of the students opt for the academic streams in order to pursue their dream jobs in medicine, engineering, agriculture etc. At this juncture with the advent of NEP 2020, it was decided to embed the skill component that has been the forte of the vocational stream into the main stream to identify the talent who can be excellent skilled workers. In school and higher education, distinct importance was given to vocational education. It can be seen that the school curriculum was separated from the life skills including vocational education and there was a disconnect in terms of skilling and knowledge. NEP stipulates that in addition to these, aptitude be also included so that there are holistic education and a student who wants to drop and pursue a skill-oriented job can leave after acquiring the skill. NEP focuses on multidisciplinary and a holistic education across the sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, and sports for a multidisciplinary world in order to ensure the unity and integrity of all knowledge. NEP in schools are as per, Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE): National Curricular and Pedagogical Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education (NCPFECCE) for children up to age of 8. Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN): Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA) – a national platform for school education providing digital learning resources in 133 Indian languages. New Pedagogical & Curricular Structure: 5+3+3+4 design and National Curricular Framework for School Education (NCFSE) by NCERT.
Life skills such as communication, co-operation, teamwork and resilience needs to be imparted to the current generation of students so that they understand how to face challenges in life and move ahead and do not focus only academics. The National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) is a competency-based framework that organizes all qualifications according to a series of levels of knowledge, skills and aptitude. These levels, graded from one to ten, are defined in terms of learning outcomes which the learner must possess regardless of whether they are obtained through formal, non-formal or informal learning. At present more than 100 countries have or are in the process of developing national qualification frameworks. The NSQF is piloted at the National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) and is being implemented through the National Skills Qualifications Committee (NSQC) which comprises of all key stakeholders in the national level.The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 stipulates that a National Higher Education Qualification Framework (NHEQF) will be formulated in sync with NSQF so as to ease the integration of vocational education into higher education, prescribe the facilitative norms for issues such as credit transfer, equivalence, etc. The intention is to elevate all Higher Educational institutions to a common level of benchmarking to ensure that all institutions are providing quality education.
Focus areas for vocational education will be chosen based on skills gap analysis and mapping of local opportunities. The key skilling domains identified include, IT and IT enabled services, Artificial intelligence, Apparel, retailing, Banking and Financial services including that of insurance, Tourism and Hospitality, Logistics, Health care, green jobs, Education, Construction, Telecom, Beauty and Wellness and finally Persons with Disabilities skills. New areas on electric mobility, Agriculture, Media and Entertainment and Electrical and Electronics were added as the skill courses. Many states have started the courses through a separate company found for this purpose. Data science including Big Data is emerging as a major lucrative career. Students in their ninth and tenth standards need to embrace the new technologies and other areas of significance which can offer better job opportunities.
Fortuneindia.com has projected that 110 million jobs will be added in next five years significantly in the skill sectors. Around 10 million jobs need to be added annually between 2024-25 and 2029-30 for India to maintain an average gross value added (GVA) growth of 6.5% year-on-year. In comparison, an average of 8.5 million jobs were generated each year from 1999-00 to 2022-23.Between 2019-20 and 2022-23, an average of 26 million jobs were added annually due to an increase in agricultural and services jobs.The scope for transfer of credits will require the establishing of equivalence between vocational education and general education. This will overcome the blur between these two educations. Infact if critical mass in school education is to be reached, then both needs to be amalgamated.
Life skills need to be included along with vocational training so that overall personality and passion will be clearly defined for the students. J&K government can revisit the school education where there is a need for appointment of next generation teachers who have niche qualifications (10%) so that the skills can be imparted to the students even in far flung areas of Jammu region.The NEP 2020 recommends the use of digital resources such as e-books, e-journals, and other online learning materials to supplement traditional classroom teaching. This will enable students to access high-quality learning resources and engage in self-paced learning. The blended mode in terms of theory and practical can help students to embrace the avocation that can be a boon to J&K. With over 10,000 Atal Tinkering Labs established nationwide, engaging over 1.1 crore students, the initiative has transformed the educational landscape. The labs emphasize inclusivity, with over 60% in government schools and 96% in co-educational or girls’ institutions, ensuring widespread access to STEM innovation opportunities. J&K has been able to introduce smart class rooms in far flung areas also. Nodal schools in J&K can be identified for ATLs and bolster them for the benefit of all students in the nodal region. “Identify the students at the young and formative ages, make them part of skilling, the future of the country will be bright and soon it will grow into Viksit Bharat even before 2047.”
(The author is Vice Chancellor, Cluster University of Jammu)