VOCATIONAL EDUCATION: THE WAY FORWARD

India enjoys the demographic dividend of having the youngest workforce with an average age of
29 years in comparison with the advanced economies.The nation can grow to be the Human
Resource Capital of the world by appropriately skilling its youth and harnessing this
advantage.Nonetheless, the low levels of vocational training in India, high proportion of
school-dropouts, huge informal workforce, poor quality of training etc poses a challenge for
skilling this huge labour force. Since the working population between 30-59 is more than the
fresh work force,the question is not only of fresh skilling but also upskilling / reskilling of the
existing workers to make them compatible with the changing needs of the industry and market
requiring a Mission mode approach.
However in a survey by the NSSO it was evident that the younger population, aged between
15-29 had a higher unemployment level and when compared with the status of education,
unemployment rate was higher among those with higher educational qualifications.Therefore it is
necessary to take accurate measures to utilize this demographic advantage by giving the youth
education that equips them with employable skills.
Starting from the 11th 5 year plan, skill development has been a constant objective for changing
governments and various actions have been taken in this respect.Despite these efforts, skill is yet
to become aspirational among youth. In the observations made by the sub group of chief
ministers it was found that a large proportion of the workforce does not get an opportunity for
training .One of the main reasons for this enormous deficit in training is that until now vocational
training has been provided in Grades 11 and 12 and a huge proportion of indian youth drop out
of school before reaching this required grade.Another visible social factor is the misconception
that vocational courses are inferior to mainstream education and thus students do not favour this
option due to social status concerns.The NEP2020 plans to overcome these challenges by
imparting vocational training into mainstream education and at an early stage of educational
training ideally in the middle and secondary school.This not only betters the chances of of
employment for youth but also would help emphasis the dignity of labour and importance of
various occupations.
In this model development of vocational capacities will go in line with the development of
academic learning.The NEP2020 plans to integrate vocational education in the curriculum of all
secondary schools in a trained manner over the coming decade.To implement this secondary
schools will also collaborate with ITIs,polytechnics,local industry etc leading to the optimal
utilization of infrastructure in these institutes.
This structure of development ensures that every child learns at least one vocation and is
exposed to several more.The proposed plan of the new education policy has provided the ideal
ground for realizing the full potential of India’s demographic dividend.
After reading through different articles and reports about the demographics and the need for skill
requirements I am convinced that vocational education can play a colossal role in unravelling
various challenges we face as a society and as a nation.Starting with one of the obvious
advantages of a skilled workforce, employment, as stated in the previous page the unemployment
rate in the country was higher among youth with higher educational qualifications. Graduates, with a
share of 16.3 percent, made up the highest unemployment rate in 2019. This was followed by
individuals with a postgraduate degree or above with a share of 14.2 percent.This fact comes as a
whammy for the Indian education system and the question that follows this realisation is obviously
why does our education system fail?.This question does not have a simple answer because an
education system is a huge network that runs on various wheels. Each of these elements have an
enormous role to play.
However, one of the instruments that could strike a cord, presents itself as vocational
training.Vocational training could have evident effects on economy in a study1 it has been estimated
that there was an overall increase in wages of people who had obtained training and could increase
employment prospects for students.If we take the case of Germany ,the country has a dual vocational
training program wherein the student’s education happens in two domains,one being work-place
apprentice learning and the other classroom based academic learning.This gives it the
name “dual principle” learning. In this model the student learns the practical and work based of
aspect of their subject on one side and learns the theoretical aspects in the other.The students can
even earn a stipend while learning in their work based education.If we were to consider such a
system in India while adopting skill development programs,providing a stipend along with education
could increase the incentive for parents from underprivileged economic backgrounds to send their
wards for secondary education.This provision could attract more students from low income families
like the mid-day meal scheme and also,like the mid-day meal scheme aided the implementation of
Article 21A, a skill development program which pays could help India move closer to the SDG 4.
Such a system could provide us with an optimal solution for student drop rate and could even
increase GER.

As per the United Nations World Population Prospects, 2015. India is one of the youngest nations
with a median age of 27 years, this puts India at a very advantageous position for growth.
Nevertheless to make good use of this demographic dividend we need to aid the growth of a skilled
workforce and this is a challenging task considering the existing system and the population of
India.But with objective policy and Implementation India can make ideal use of this
advantage.Vocational Training could be one option for this. A Vocational training program with a
stipend would not only help us bring up a skilled workforce but also provide us with an ambient
solution for student drop rate and could even increase GRE.Thereby helping India move closer to the
Sustainable Development Goal 4.