Reimagining Vocational Education and Career Guidance for School Students: A One-Day Consultation Workshop organised by MOE

Ministry of Education (MOE) held a one-day consultation workshop on “Reimagining Vocational Education and Career Guidance for School Students” in partnership with UNICEF and YuWaah on December 16, 2022, in New Delhi.

Key Highlights:

• NCrF will enable dropouts from the formal education system to reintegrate by linking their practical experience with the appropriate Framework level. Sanjay Kumar, Shri
• Discussions about career guidance focused on the role of physical interventions and career counselling in schools.

The consultation workshop and two roundtable discussions with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), the Directorate General of Training (ITI), PSSCIVE, Bhopal, NCERT, CBSE, NCVET, AICTE, etc., were presided over by Shri Sanjay Kumar, Secretary of the Department of School Education and Literacy. Numerous specialists from PwC, YuWaah, Civil Society Organisations, the state education department, practitioners and organisations working in the domains of vocational education and career counselling, corporates, current and former students, and others attended the workshop and roundtable discussion.

Shri Sanjay Kumar, Secretary of the Department of School Education and Literacy, made a point during the keynote address that, “India needs to catch up to other countries in terms of formal vocational training for the workforce during the student years. Such concerns have been noted by NEP 2020, and it has recommended solutions”.

“According to the NEP 2020, vocational education needs to be gradually integrated into all schools and higher education institutions over the course of the next decade”, Shri Sanjay Kumar stated. A skills gap analysis and a mapping of local opportunities need to be used to determine the trades and courses that will best meet local demand. All stakeholders should also work together to de-stigmatize vocational education and make it aspirational. MSDE is currently finalising the National Credit Framework (NCrF), which will also eliminate traditional hierarchies and silos between different areas of learning. It will assist in erasing complex distinctions between the arts and sciences, curricular and extracurricular activities, vocational and academic streams, etc. NCrF will enable dropouts from the formal education system to reintegrate by connecting their practical experience with the appropriate Framework level and by providing credits for academic, extracurricular, and experiential learning.

Numerous concepts for revamping vocational education modules, importance of life skills, both vertically and horizontally, aspirational disconnect, information asymmetry, providing a gender perspective to vocational education, etc. were major topics of these discussions. The goal should be to equip students with skills like cloud computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics, robotic process automation, cybersecurity, etc., so that vocational graduates could compete in the global economy in light of the recently launched NEP 2020. It was also stressed how important it is to set up virtual labs so that every student has access to excellent practical and hands-on experience. The conference also benefited from the remarks made by students who had taken vocational courses like Multi-Skilling and Information Technology.

Also read: NSN weekly newsbytes on skills, education and training- 20122022 https://nationalskillsnetwork.in/nsn-weekly-newsbytes-on-skills-education-and-training-20122022/

The second roundtable discussed current systems of career counselling in schools, as well as key learnings and best practices. According to Shri Sanjay Kumar, Secretary of DOSEL, “The best solutions should focus on developing a scaled, quick, and sustainable institutional model of career counselling in schools that makes use of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence”. He added that it was necessary to map resources and compile them into a database. Discussions on career guidance also centred on the role of physical interventions and career counselling that could be done in schools.