Archive for the ‘National Vocational Qualification Framework’ Category
Vocational studies to get new curriculum in October, 2011
Faced with the problem of school dropouts and dearth of skilled labour, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) plans to finalise by October a new curriculum for vocational studies in the country. The National Vocational Education Qualifications Framework (NVEQF) will put in place a nationally recognised qualification system, covering higher secondary schools, vocational education institutes, polytechnics, colleges and institutes of higher education.
For this, the All-India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) has identified eight skill areas for immediate attention and has involved the private sector for devising curriculum, testing, evaluation and certification. These eight areas are automobile, hospitality and tourism, security and energy, retail, media and entertainment, information technology, construction, and financial services, banking and insurance.
AICTE has already held meetings with the various stakeholders in the automobile, information technology, hospitality, media and entertainment and construction sectors and curriculum has already been prepared for the first three sectors. “Many students drop out of school or are not interested in regular formal education. Some fail their senior secondary exams while others have to work to support their families. In some cases, there are no formal colleges near their homes. The framework will benefit them,” said AICTE Chairman SS Mantha.
There are 9,583 schools offering 150 vocational courses of two-year duration in broad areas of primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy. In addition, the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) imparts vocational education in 80 courses, taking the total enrolment in vocational education courses of all these schools to roughly 6,00,000. The framework will have a competency-based modular approach with provision for credit accumulation and transfer. Students would have the scope for vertical and horizontal mobility with multiple entry and exits.
With dropout rates nearing 40% in Classes IX-XII, Mantha added that vocational education would offer competency-based skills and help students find employment. Representatives from the industry chambers, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) are also helping the ministry develop the framework.
“The ministry identified eight sectors for white collar jobs and a group of 12 state education ministers is examining the issues that may need sorting out at the state level to implement AICTE’s ambitious scheme. The group is expected to submit its report by July,” said Shalini Sharma, Head – Higher Education, Confederation of Indian Industry.
Source: The Financial Express, July 1, 2011
Industry being enlisted to boost vocational training standards
The central government is enlisting a number of industry segments to help it improve the standards of vocational education so that students emerge better skilled and become more employable. In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) interacted with the automobile sector to devise vocational courses tailored to the needs of the industry. Representatives of auto companies including Tata Motors Ltd. and Ashok Leyland Ltd. attended the meeting, ministry officials said. Next in line are the construction and hospitality industries.
The effort is a departure from the tradition of academics and bureaucrats deciding what and how students should be taught, with no role for their eventual employers. Industry has for long complained that students may graduate with diplomas and degrees, but lack the requisite and relevant skills to be employable, forcing companies to spend time, effort and money to train them.
“We had a constructive interaction with the automobile industry and we have formed a committee headed by R. Seshasayee (Managing Director of Ashok Leyland) to help the ministry in its effort,” HRD minister Kapil Sibal said on Wednesday. “The committee will submit a report within three months detailing the road map for vocational education relevant for the concerned industry,” said the minister, adding that this initiative is aimed at making students more employable. The initiative is aimed at helping both students and industry, he said.
According to official statistics, India’s unemployment rate was 9.4% in 2009-10, an increase of 1.2 percentage points from the level in 2005. Narayanan Ramaswamy, Executive Director (Education) at consulting and auditing firm KPMG, said involving the industry in formulating vocational courses had the potential to bring “path-breaking results”. The automobile industry alone faces a shortage of 300,000 skilled people, he said, citing a survey.
“This effort will bridge the gap and give employment to a large number of students with a handsome salary,” he said.
“Providing skilled people to labour-intensive sectors like automobile, construction and manufacturing will reduce unemployment in India. The moment you involve industry in education, you get the perspective on the demand and supply chain.”
The effort will start at the senior secondary level with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and then spread to the state educational boards. While 220 million students are in schools, less than 15 million are expected to pursue higher education, and better vocational education will improve the chances of employment for the dropouts.
“Once you give them the option at the secondary level, students will go for it,” said a MHRD ministry official. “Industry too is facing a huge shortage of skilled manpower in the lower and middle strata of the human resource structure.” The official didn’t want to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
Sibal said a separate section will be created within the CBSE to promote vocational education. The MHRD is targeting mid-2011 to put in place a national vocational education framework that will give students from Class 8 onwards the option of choosing from a range of subjects including hospitality, electronics and automobiles that they would study alongside their regular syllabus. “We are for inclusive education and we will bring in necessary changes so that students specialising in vocational courses can smoothly go to the universities as well,” Sibal said.
Source: Mint, December 9, 2010
National Vocational Education Qualification Framework: MHRD meets auto industry reps
Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Mr. Kapil Sibal, presided over a Round Table on “Development of a National Vocational Education Qualification Framework” on December 6. This meeting was with representatives of the automotive sector and the discussion was on the subject of automobile industry specific vocational education. The meeting was organized by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
The Minister will also be holding similar interactions with representatives of other industry sectors as well to develop curriculum for industries such as IT and Telecom, Entertainment, Hospitality, Construction, Financial Services and Insurance.
To develop the course curriculum for this sector, a core group was constituted by Mr. Sibal, which would function under the chairmanship of Dr. R. Seshasayee, Managing Director, Ashok Leyland Limited and includes M/S S.S. Mantha, Chairman, AICTE; Ashok Thakur N. K. Sinha, both Additional Secretaries in the HRD Ministry; and Subhash Khuntia, Joint Secretary in the HRD Ministry. The committee would be submitting its recommendations to MHRD within three months. This Committee may co opt other experts as and when required.
Mr. Kapil Sibal pointed out that 56% of our economy and growth comes from the service sector, which is unsustainable, with the country’s population crossing 1.2 billion. The national impetus that contributes to the service sector should continue, but the manufacturing sector definitely needs greater attention, he said. He emphasised that we have to create skills to empower our manpower, keeping in context fast changing technology. There is need to develop a system of vocational education with different levels of training (may be seven to eight) starting at the school level from class nine, with a choice for selecting the area of interest, he said. This should seamlessly provide multi-point entry to appropriate jobs and/or higher education. He further said that we need to build a framework which provides a system of certification for the selected choices and provides options for vertical mobility from school to university.
The minister underlined the need to develop a curriculum which is need based and caters to the different aspects of the automobile industry. He called for active collaboration with the automobile industry to develop the curriculum for this qualification framework, as also for the support system for hands on training, virtual training and software training. He pointed out that 39 million students pass out from class 12, of which only 1 million get an opportunity to be empowered through vocational education.
Addressing the gathering, Mrs. D. Purandeshwari, Minister of State for HRD said that the provisions of the National Policy on Education 1986 emphasize the introduction of systematic, well planned and rigorously implemented program of Vocational Education. She said that the qualitative aspect of assessment of the manpower situation should include a national qualification framework to address various issues of manpower assessment of training to facilitate lifelong learning of workers.The Secretary Department of Higher Education, Mrs. Vibha Puri Das and Prof. S.S.Mantha, Chairman AICTE also addressed the group.
The conference was attended by representative of automobile industry including Ashok Leyland Ltd., Scooters India Ltd., Asia Motor Works Ltd., BMW India Pvt. Ltd., Greaves Cotton Ltd., Piaggio Vehicles Ltd., Reva Electric Car Company, Skoda Auto India Pvt. Ltd., Tata Motors Ltd., VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd., Hyundai Motors India Ltd., Rimaco Machines, Siemens Ltd., the professional bodies including NASSCOM, ASSOCHAM, FICCI, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the policy makers and officials of Ministry of Human Resource Development. The automobile sector contributes to Rs. 2 trillion of revenue figures and provides an opportunity for employment to at least 13 million people.
The delegates deliberated on various issues related to development of qualification framework and there was common consensus on the following:
- There is an acute shortage of labor at Tier 2 and Tier 3, so there is a need to evolve a strategy to compensate the shortage. This may include some short term, medium term and long term solutions. The industry may evolve the short-term and medium-term solutions. But the vocational qualification frame work is required for providing a long-term solution to become a global leader.
- Students have no motivation to opt for the vocational stream, hence trainers as well as students both need to be incentivized for attracting them for the vocational stream. There were references to other countries, where students willingly go for vocational education, which ensures a secure job opportunity.
- The manpower produced at the vocational, polytechnic or at a degree level lacks required core competence needed for the industry. The so-called skilled manpower is further required to be trained for 2-3 years to shape them as per industry requirement.
- Vocational education needs to be incentivized by industry either by offering incentive packages or by developing a process of certification.
- It is anticipated that by 2020, about 220 million students will pass out from school, out of which, about 150 million will not enroll for college education. This young talent needs to be motivated for vocational education.
- There are three important components of developing the qualification frame work for vocational education —development of curriculum, certification through examination, and incentivisation.
- The qualification framework should provide opportunities for lateral movement in main stream higher education and should ensure capacity building and skill development through quality education.
- There is a need for suitable trainers to impart technical training to the students of this stream.
- In addition to the core skills of the automobile industry, there is felt need of skilled drivers, mechanics and other skilled manpower for proper servicing of latest automobiles. There is a huge shortage of skilled manpower and no suitable framework available to cater to the needs of the services and sales sector in the automotive industry.
- The automobile industry will come forward and collaborate with the institutions by providing required hardware and suitable trainers to teach the aspirants of vocational stream.
- It was felt that the curriculum of vocational framework should be such that it provides a mix of technical skill with managerial skill for vertical integration in the industry and there should be regular refresher courses to update technical skills.
Source: Press Information Bureau, Government of India, December 8, 2010
New norms for vocational study
In order to address the skill shortage, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has proposed a National Vocational Qualification Framework (NVQF) on international lines to link various qualifications and set common principles and guidelines for nationally recognized qualification system. Eleven countries presently have NVQFs including Australia, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Malaysia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Switzerland and the UK.
The unified system of national qualification will cover schools, vocational education and training institutions and higher education sector. NVQF is based on nationally recognized occupational standards which details listing of all major activities that a worker must perform in the occupation or competency standards – a detailed listing of the knowledge, skills and attitude that a worker should possess to perform a task written by the particular employment-led sector skills council.
NVQF, to be discussed in the meeting of Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), is to implement PM Manmohan Singh’s stress to set up a Vocational Education Mission. CABE will also discuss new legislations like the NCHER Bill, setting up of national depository for certificates and issues like common science and mathematics curriculum in Class 11 and 12.
The PM had declared setting up of 1,600 new industrial training institutes and polytechnics,10,000 new vocational schools and 50,000 new skill development centres to ensure 10 million students get vocational training. Currently, 17 ministries / departments deliver vocational educational training programs to 2.8 million people.
Source: The Times of India, June 16, 2010
New norms for vocational study
In order to address the skill shortage, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has proposed a National Vocational Qualification Framework (NVQF) on international lines to link various qualifications and set common principles and guidelines for nationally recognized qualification system. Eleven countries presently have NVQFs including Australia, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Malaysia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Switzerland and the UK.
The unified system of national qualification will cover schools, vocational education and training institutions and higher education sector. NVQF is based on nationally recognized occupational standards which details listing of all major activities that a worker must perform in the occupation or competency standards – a detailed listing of the knowledge, skills and attitude that a worker should possess to perform a task written by the particular employment-led sector skills council.
NVQF, to be discussed in the meeting of Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), is to implement PM Manmohan Singh’s stress to set up a Vocational Education Mission. CABE will also discuss new legislations like the NCHER Bill, setting up of national depository for certificates and issues like common science and mathematics curriculum in Class 11 and 12.
The PM had declared setting up of 1,600 new industrial training institutes and polytechnics,10,000 new vocational schools and 50,000 new skill development centres to ensure 10 million students get vocational training. Currently, 17 ministries / departments deliver vocational educational training programs to 2.8 million people.
Source: The Times of India, June 16, 2010
