Vocational education at higher secondary level

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF  LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT

RAJYA SABHA

ANSWERED ON-13.03.2013

(a & b) Government has formulated a National Policy on Skill Development (NPSD) which was approved on 23rd February, 2009. The policy has targeted skill development of 500 million persons by 2022 by involving all stake holders through concerned Ministries and Departments. The details of targets for training assigned to National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and different Ministries/ Departments are at Annex-I. A three-tier structure has been put in place for policy decision, review, co-ordination and implementation as follows:

(i) the Prime Minister’s National Council on Skill Development under the chairmanship of Hon’ble Prime Minister, to review the spectrum of skill development efforts for policy direction;

(ii) “National Skill Development Coordination Board” under the chairmanship of Hon’ble Dy. Chairman Planning Commission to enumerate strategies to implement the decisions of PM’s council; and

(iii) “National Skill Development Corporation” (NSDC), a non-profit company under the Companies Act, 1956, of which 49% of equity base is contributed by the Central Government while 51% by the private sector. The corporation is expected to meet the skill training requirements of the labour market including that of unorganized sector.

(c to e) The Revised Centrally Sponsored Scheme “Vocationalisation of Higher Secondary Education” provides financial assistance for imparting vocational education at higher secondary level in government, government-aided and private schools. The scheme provides for the strengthening of existing vocational schools, establishment of new vocational schools, capacity building of vocational education teachers, development of competency based curriculum and learning materials, etc. The specific objectives of the scheme are to enhance the employability of youth through competency based modular vocational courses, to maintain their competitiveness through provisions of multi-entry & multi-exit learning opportunities and vertical mobility/ interchangeability in qualifications, to fill the gap between educated and employable, and to decrease the pressure on academic higher education.

Under the scheme, the curriculum would be need-based and relevant so as to lead to gainful self or wage employment. The modules will include vocational theory and practice for which the weightage may vary from vocation to vocation and module to module, but competency development will be the main focus. Curriculum development will be undertaken by the Pandit Sunderlal Sharma Central Institute of Vocational Education (PSSCIVE) with greater inputs from industry through the Sector Skills Councils to allow conceptualization of content. Under the scheme, competency based curriculum for job roles in IT & ITeS, Security, Automobile & Retail have been prepared by PSSCIVE.