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Vocational Education - the route to success (View Comments)
AP.Srivatsan
Posted On Tuesday, August 04, 2009 at 09:38:43 AM
A mere diploma certificate, graduation or a post graduate degree is not sufficient in today’s complex economy. To identify itself as a knowledge-based economy, India should bridge the gap in fulfilling the requirements of skilled workforce in the emerging services sector
India has made remarkable growth in the fields of Information Technology, Telecom, Banking and Insurance. It has showcased impressive achievements globally in these sectors by churning out lakhs of engineers and professionals with right skill sets.
India Inc. is shining on the global map. A huge workforce of talented engineers and graduates are serving various industry sectors world over. But the micro economy in India, with millions of small scale industries in the unorganised sector, is the worst hit due to lack of skilled talent.
While the organised sector is enjoying all the benefits and making remarkable growth, much needs to be done to uplift and meet the demands of the unorganised sector in the country. Given the vast size of India’s informal workforce, there is huge shortage of skilled talent. The supply far exceeds the demand.
How can the skill gap be bridged? Vocational Education seems to be the right answer. It has been observed that the Indian education system has been giving less importance to vocational education and even the students have been looking down upon vocational education. As a result, there is a mismatch between the skilled manpower required and skilled manpower available.
According to a survey, 72 per cent of our population is under the age of 35 and it is estimated that 300 million people between the ages of 18 and 50 seek employment of some form. While 57 per cent are unemployable, 46 million are registered with employment exchanges with little hope of finding a suitable job.
Importance of Vocational Education
Vocational Education has suddenly become the buzzword in many developed and developing countries to realistically address the need of skill shortage.
A majority of the youth passing out from our universities and colleges do not have the specific skill sets required by various sectors in the market. Vocational education is surely going to be an enabler to help India shine in the unorganised sector. But the onus lies on the government to make strong efforts in recognising the importance of vocational education in India and to see to it that students enrol in more numbers to vocational training institutes.
Realising the need for informal skilled workforce in the country, many private institutes are offering vocational training with accreditation from recognised industry bodies resulting in empowering employment. These institutes also assure better placements for their students.
In today's competitive environment, it's just not enough to be skilled. One needs to be trained and well groomed for every industry. However, India’s formal vocational training system creates minimum educational prerequisites. The Government of India in recent years has laid a lot of emphasis on streamlining vocational education so that it fulfils the emerging need of the market by focusing on employability skills.
Unlike the University degrees, which does not assure employment after college, a vocational education and training centres prepare the youth for life and is sure of solving the problem of unemployment to a great extent.
The author is the Managing Director of Vocational Academy
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