Vocational Education

1. By
Dr. Ajit Mondal
Assistant Professor, Department of Education,
West Bengal State University, Barasat, West Bengal
Re-imagining Vocational Education and
Skill-building in the Context of NEP 2020

2. 1) To decode the policy reforms embedded the NEP 2020 in the area of
vocationalization of Indian education.
2) To peep into the challenges to vocationalizing of Indian education in
the context of the provisions envisioned in the NEP 2020.
3) To suggest some pathways to vocationalizing education for skill
development in generating employability and strengthening industry-
academia interface.
Objectives

3. The present study is qualitative in nature and policy document
analysis approach has also been adopted. As one of the established
research tools, “policy document analysis is a method for investigating
the nature of a policy document in order to look at both what lies
behind it and within it”.
It is particularly employed as a method in qualitative research. The
study has been developed chiefly using all the national education policy
documents, UDISE+, AISHE reports, NSS, Economic Survey, MHRD &
UGC documents and other related research articles, books.
Research Method & Sources of Data

4. Backdrop (Why Re-imagining Vocational Education
& Skill Development?)
Knowledge and skill are the driving force for economic
growth and social development of any nation in the 21st
Century. Today’s education system needs not just to educate
youth but equip them with relevant skills. The traditional
system of human resource development requires newer
orientation so that it can prepare youth with desired levels of
skills and competencies to harmonise education with gainful
employment across the globe.

5. Education is the central key to the success of all Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) under the United Nations 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development.
The NEP 2020 embraces the United Nations 2030 Agenda
completely, and envisages reforms greatly in sync with the
SDG 4 – “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education
and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” and the
Target 4.3 – “Equal access to affordable technical,
vocational and higher education”.

6. The 12th Five-Year Plan (2012–2017) estimated that only a
very small percentage of the Indian workforce in the age
group of 19–24 (less than 5%) received formal vocational
education Whereas in countries such as the USA the
number is 52%, in Germany 75%, and South Korea it is as
high as 96% (Government of India, 2020, p. 43).

8. Against this backdrop, the new policy
underlines the urgent need to accelerate
the expansion of vocational education in
India.

9. Vocational Education and the NEP
2020: The Policy Perspective

10. The policy has re-imagined how vocational education
will be offered to students in the future.
By 2025, at least 50% of learners through the
school and higher education system shall have
exposure to vocational education, for which a
clear action plan with targets and timelines will
be developed.

11. This policy aims to overcome the social status hierarchy associated with
vocational education and requires integration of vocational education
programmes into mainstream education in all education institutions in a
phased manner.
Beginning with vocational exposure at early ages in middle and secondary
school, quality vocational education will be integrated smoothly into higher
education.
Vocational education will be introduced in all secondary schools in a
phased manner over the next decade. Towards this, secondary schools will
also collaborate with ITIs, polytechnics, local industry, etc.

12. MHRD will constitute a National Committee for the Integration of
Vocational Education (NCIVE), consisting of experts in vocational education
and representatives from across Ministries, in collaboration with industry, to
oversee this effort.
Skill labs will also be set up and created in the schools in a hub and spoke
model which will allow other schools to use the facility.
Higher education institutions will offer vocational education either on
their own or in partnership with industry and NGOs.

13. The B.Voc. degrees introduced in 2013 will continue to exist, but
vocational courses will also be available to students enrolled in all other
Bachelor’s degree programmes, including the 4-year multidisciplinary
Bachelor’s programmes. [Vertical & Lateral Mobility]
HEIs will also be allowed to conduct short-term certificate courses in
various skills including soft skills. ‘Lok Vidya’ will be made accessible to
students through integration into vocational education courses.
The possibility of offering vocational courses through ODL mode will also
be explored.

14. Incubation centres will be set up in higher education institutions in
partnership with industries.
The National Skills Qualifications Framework 2013 will be detailed further
for each discipline vocation and profession. Further, Indian standards will be
aligned with the International Standard Classification of Occupations
maintained by the ILO.
The credit-based Framework will also facilitate mobility across ‘general’
and vocational education.

15. As a result of these policy reforms embedded in the
NEP 2020, over 280,000 secondary schools (UDISE+,
2018-2019), nearly 40,000 colleges, and more than 1,000
universities (AISHE, 2019) can potentially come into
the fold of VET providers.

16. Challenges to Vocational
Education and Skill-Building

17. The policy calls for removing “hard separations” between academic and
vocational streams. Accordingly, it proposes a “beginning with vocational
exposure at early ages in middle and secondary school, quality vocational
education will be integrated smoothly into higher education” (NEP, 2020, p.
44).
Students can be introduced to vocational subjects from as early as grade VI,
including opportunities for internship from grade six to grade 12. This thus
ignores the implication of ensuring fundamental mainstream education for all
students at least up to class X. Introducing vocational education at an early
age would become a barrier for many first-generation learners and those from
disadvantaged backgrounds to access higher education.
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18. The National Education Policy, 2020 (NEP) calls for public
investment on education to 6% of GDP “at the earliest”.
India’s education budget has never touched this number yet.
To meet the 6% of GDP, the education budget for 2022-23
should have been almost double that of last year’s allocation.
The education budget 2022 has been allotted Rs 1, 04,278
crore. However, the allocation is still not enough.
2

19. The acceleration in the GDP growth has not been accompanied
by an adequate expansion of employment opportunities. The
employment generation capacity of the organised sector has
been very low and in the public sector, growth of employment
has been negative. Due to very low employment elasticity,
‘jobless growth’ in the manufacturing sector is a prime concern.
The unorganised sector of the economy is the main source of
employment (Agrawal, 2012, p. 454).
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20. The foremost challenge that needs to be overcome is that of the
prevalent mindset – among key stakeholders such as students and
parents – that VET is inferior to regular school and college
education, and that it is suitable only for those youth who are
unable to cope with mainstream education. The provision of
vocational education through higher secondary schools during the
past decade has not succeeded in overcoming this stigma for
several reasons (UNESCO, 2020).
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21. As of UNESCO, 2020 total number of state government run schools
implementing vocationalization of secondary school education 10158
out of 11434 approved schools for offering such courses.
There is a strong mismatch between demand and supply-side factors.
The curriculum followed at the institutes has little relevance; there is
lack of linkage between labour market needs and vocational courses.
5 & 6

22. Though the demand for skilled workers is high in the market, employers
do not find suitable skills among people with vocational qualifications
and prefer to recruit engineering tertiary graduates or general secondary
students and train them in-house.
In India, in case of vocational courses in secondary schools, practical
training is so limited in vocational fields that their employability becomes
also limited (Mehrotra, 2017).
7 & 8

23. NPE 1986
It is proposed that vocational courses cover 10 per cent of higher secondary students by
1990 and 25 per cent by 1995 (MHRD, 1992, para 5.23, p. 14).
The Revised NPE 1992
It is proposed that vocational courses cover 10 per cent of higher secondary students by
1995 and 25 per cent by 2000 (MHRD, 1992, para 5.23, p. 17).
The 12th Five-Year Plan (2012–2017) estimated that only a very small percentage of the
Indian workforce in the age group of 19–24 (less than 5%) received formal vocational
education.
NEP 2020
By 2025, at least 50% of learners through the school and higher education system shall
have exposure to vocational education, for which a clear action plan with targets and
timelines will be developed.
Distant Dream

24. Further Policy Options for Re-imagining
Vocational Education & Skill-Building

25. Vocational education should be provided out of the mainstream
educational system. In case vocational courses are offered within the
mainstream system many students opt for vocational courses when they
fail to get admission to the general courses.
Their objective is not to do the manual jobs but to either get admission to
the institution of higher learning or to get white collar jobs on the basis
of their school certificates.
Consequently, there occurs a gross wastage of scarce resources. Such a
situation can be avoided by providing vocational courses solely in a
parallel educational system like that of the ITI's.
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26. Vocational education should be subsidised. A large number of stipends and
scholarships should be offered to overcome the lack of demand.
Adequate funding for implementation, as well as regulatory support system
from the central and state governments, will be necessary to ensure that the
vision for large-scale growth of quality vocational education and training
during the coming decade (UNESCO, 2020).
Vocational aptitude tests coupled with career counselling and guidance are
key support measures that need to be made available to all learners.
3 4
2

27. A skills credit bank must be linked with the proposed Academic Bank of
Credits in the NEP 2020 to help youth accumulate credits towards higher
degrees (UNESCO, 2020).
The induction training of trainers and assessors, their terms of recruitment
and deployment, working conditions and career prospects, must all be given
due attention so that these become attractive and aspirational professions
(UNESCO, 2020).
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28. India holds innumberable tangible and intangible cultural heritage include
several UNESCO World Heritage sites and a wide variety of arts and crafts.
Their preservation and promotion can support many more jobs than they do
at present, and require a multi-pronged approach towards building an
adequately trained workforce (UNESCO, 2020).
Curriculum of the vocational programmes may be visualised in such a
manner that it has four distinct parts namely life skills, work skills, internship
and preparation of employment (Prakash, 2021, p. 303).
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29. Closing Remarks
By overhauling vocational education, the NEP 2020 makes a paradigm shift
from conventional educational system to skill-based qualification system. It
prioritises vertical and lateral mobility of vocational aspirants.
India at present is recognised as one of the youngest nations in the world with
about 61 crore children under the age of 23. It is estimated that soon India will
have about 20% of the world’s total workforce. In order to harness the full
demographic dividend, India needs an educational system which can not only
guarantee access to quality education at an affordable cost but ensure
employability (Praksh, 2021, p. 305).
The NEP 2020 has aptly crafted a series of policy reforms with some weak
propositions for re-imagining vocational education in India

30. Thanks Everybody
19-05-2022