Ministry of education organise workshop on vocational education, career counselling for school students

NEW DELHI: The ministry of education along with UNICEF and YuWaah organised a one-day consultation workshop on 'Reimagining Vocational Education and Career Guidance for School Students' on December 16, 2022.

The workshop had two round table interactions including the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship, NCERT, CBSE, AICTE, PSSCIVE Bhopal and directorate general of training among others. The discussions were chaired by department of school education and literacy, secretary, Sanjay Kumar.

The event was attended by experts from PwC, YuWaah, Civil Society organizations, state education department, practitioners and organisations working in the fields of vocational education and career counselling, corporates as well as current and passed out students.

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National education policy

During the keynote address, Sanjay Kumar said that India needs to catch up with other countries in terms of skilling the workforce through formal vocational training during the student years. NEP 2020 has identified such issues and has suggested remedial measures.

He also pointed out that as per the education policy, vocational education is required to be integrated in all schools and higher education institutions over the next decade. Trades and Courses shall be chosen based on skills gap analysis and mapping of local opportunities to make it demand driven. Concerted efforts from all stakeholders will be required to de-stigmatize Vocational Education and make it aspirational," he further said.

According to national education policy, 2020 the aim should be to empower students with skills including cloud computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics, robotic process automation and cybersecurity among others so that vocational graduates could compete in the global economy.

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National credit framework

He emphasised how the National credit framework will help remove complex separations between arts and sciences, between curricular and extra-curricular activities, between vocational and academic streams, etc. "By providing credits for academic, extra-curricular and experiential learning, NCrF will help dropouts from the formal education system to get reintegrated by aligning their practical experience with the appropriate framework level," Kumar said.

The consultations were also addressed by Generation Unlimited (YuWaah), chief, youth development and partnerships, Dhuwarakha Sriram and UNICEF, chief of education, Terry Durain. The discussions had various ideas related to reimagining, reinventing vocational education modules among others where life skills, aspirational disconnect and information asymmetry in uptake of vocational education school, giving a gender perspective to vocational education were part of the lengthy discussions.

Career counselling in schools

The second roundtable discussions were on the current systems of career counselling in schools and what are its best practices. Kumar stated that the solutions should focus on building an institutional model of career counselling in schools with scale, speed and sustainability utilising technological innovations including artificial intelligence.

He further added that there is a need to map resources and build a data base for such innovations. The discussions on career guidance also reflected on the role of physical interventions and career counselling that could be done in schools itself.