Despite providing vocational training during the secondary and higher secondary education in India, a working paper at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has found several drawbacks in the outcome among vocational education and training (VET) programmes graduates.
These include the challenges faced by the Indian VET system with 'low employability of VET graduates due to skill mismatch', followed by mismatch between VET graduate's acquired skill-set and the industry requirement. However, as a way forward, the paper suggests extensive curriculum reform and streamlining of the VET regulatory bodies.
"The mismatch between VET graduate's acquired skill-set and the industry requirement is at the core of the failure of Indian VET system. The way forward for its success would be extensive curriculum reform and streamlining of the VET regulatory bodies," the paper states.
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Titled 'Preparation for the World of Work: Secondary and Higher Secondary Education in India', the working paper has been co-authored by Charanya Raman and Vishal Gupta of IIM-A. "With 'Skill Development Mission' as a priority, both public and private agencies are recognizing the importance of vocational education in the nation's development. This is a promising start, however with major issues to be ironed out Indian VET has far to go before it establishes itself as a successful framework," the paper further states.
Laying out the challenges in this area, the paper states that vocational skills training needs to be integrated into school and college curriculums, and the national mindset which segregates academic education from hands-on skills requires a sea-change.
"That's the bigger challenge confronting teachers and academics engaged in the task of educating and preparing the world's largest child population for the 21st century. With tangible action items and goals for each department the scope for reforming vocational education in India looks promising," it suggests.
According to the paper, the vocational training institutes, which purport to prepare students for jobs, often do not have close linkages to the employers and understanding of their needs. Hence, they train based upon outdated perceptions of what is needed or on a centralised decision making process.
Further, courses and curricula developed in conjunction with industry should have a local context and relevance. Also, the curriculum has remained static over years, not reflecting current requirements. "Quality and robustness of curriculum varies and often leads to uneven delivery depending upon the teacher's interpretation and capability. Facilities and labs are often behind times, resulting in ill-equipped pass outs," the paper states.
