MindIt

When it comes to education nothing is too late as one can start from anywhere he wants to. Vocational Education is something which is going to help those aspirants who are looking for job-oriented courses, so before starting we should know more about vocational education, some benefits of vocational education, status of vocational education in India and many more.

Vocational education can be at the secondary or post-secondary level and can interact with the apprentice-ship system. Increasingly, vocational education can be recognized in terms of recognition of prior learning and partial academic credit towards tertiary education as credit; however, it is rarely considered in its own form to fall under the traditional definition of a higher education. Benefits of vocational education.

• It helps people in better performance of their jobs as they acquire a great learning experience. Working professionals gets a chance to hone their skills while making money.
• Courses are designed to help you learn in a practical way about a specific job area. They can help you get the skills you need to start a job, progress in a career or go on to higher levels of education.
• Courses are responsible for the reduction of unemployment.
• They equip the learner with new abilities and capacities. This increases their productivity as compared to when the person did not attend the training.

The World Bank report of 2006 shows that among persons of age 15-29 only about two per cent reported to have received formal vocational training and another 8 per cent reported to have received no formal vocational training. The proportion of persons (15-29 years) who received formal vocational training was the highest among the unemployed. The proportion was around 3 per cent for the employed, 11 per cent for the unemployed and 2 per cent for persons not in the labor force.

There is little capacity in vocational education in India and even that is under-utilised. World Bank Report suggests that the enrolment figure is less than three per cent of the students attending Grades XI and XII. This implies that between 350,000 to 400,000 students are enrolled in vocational education.

Vocational education makes it stress-free for the students to find work. Generally, it is understood that employers choose to hire a student who has done a vocational course rather than a simple college pass out, as because in a vocational course, a student is taught precisely for a specific job. The student already owns the right personality, skills, potentials and education for the job and the companies feel that he will be more fruitful than a systematic college pass out due to his particle knowledge. Aspirants who completed Class X and XII from recognised Board can apply for vocational courses. People who are working and those who want to get additional education to progress their professions and can’t afford to take a four-year break and going for an another college degree can choose a vocational course too.

The writer is Dr Shabab Aalam, Chairman of Grameen Mukt Vidhyalayi Shiksha Sansthan