'Only 5% students in India take up vocational education'

In the pre-Independence era, skill was usually transferred from father to son. Mahatma Gandhi had an idea that work and knowledge must never be separated. After Independence, a number of committees and commissions came into the vocational education system. National Policy of Education (1968) by Kothari commission and Central advisory board of education in 1975, which adopted the 10+2+3 pattern of education are notable in this respect.

The focus of such initiatives was to build a sustainable skill based education system. Only 5 per cent of students in India take up vocational education. This is low compared to Asian countries such as China, Malaysia, etc.

These and other interesting views shared by the academicians, corporate professionals and HR experts on the concluding day ceremony of two-day western region conference  ‘Skilling India: Make In India’. This was organised by Indian Society For Training and Development (ISTD).

ISTD national vice president and PM’s Skill Develpment Board advisor SJ Amlan was the chief guest of the concluding day ceremony. Those who spoke on the occasion included ISTD Bhopal chapter chairperson Rashmi Bhargava;  ISTD, New Delhi head Tarun Pant, AISECT, Bhopal director Siddharth Chaturvedi, MPCVET additional director GN Agrawal and Ashok Kumar, retired director general, DGET.

Amlan said that the development of skills for 500 million Indians in less than 10 years is not only a matter of national urgency; it is astounding in its scale. Thus far, the development of skills has been driven by the requirements of the market; while much progress has been made with considerable help from the private sector, it clearly continued to be a supply driven system.

Rashmi Bhargava said that the need to focus complete attention to the industry is now essential. This will make the system demand driven and close the skills mismatch. The structural changes in the Indian vocational training system are clearly now visible. She further said that the industry needs to rally around them to strengthen this initiative, which is essentially ‘By the Industry and For the Industry’.