SECONDARY EDUCATION
Vocationalisation of Secondary Education 5.1.1 Secondary and higher secondary education are important terminal stages in the system of general education because it is at these points that options are exercised by the youth to enter the world of employment, to go for technical training or pursue higher education. Educationists and experts have consistently recommended that education at these stages should be given a vocational bias to link it with the world of work.
5.1.2 The programme of vocationalisation of education had been accorded very high priority in the National Policy on Education 1986, which inter alia provided that the introduction of a systematic, well- planned and rigorously implemented programme of vocational education was crucial in the proposed educational reorganisation. Vocational education was envisaged as a distinct stream intended to prepare students for identified vocations spanning several areas of activities.
5.1.3 Based on the provision made in the NPE - 1986, the Programme of Action and the discussions held with experts, a frame-work for implementation of vocationalisation of education at the higher secondary stage was prepared and a centrally Sponsored Scheme of Vocationalisation of Secondary Education was started in February, 1988. Under this scheme, substantial financial assistance is being provided to the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations for implementation of the programme.
5.1.4 The main objectives of the Scheme of Vocationalisation of Secondary Education are to provide diversification of educational opportunities so as to enhance individual's employability, reduce the mismatch between demand and supply of skilled manpower and to provide an alternative for those pursuing higher education.
5.1.5 The summary of achievements under the scheme of vocationalisation of secondary education at +2 level since 1987-88 is given in the table below:-
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Table 5. 1
Vocationalisation of Secondary Education: Achievements
1987-88 1988-89 1989-90 1990-91 Total
Amount spent 32.26 49.73 43.97 74.00 199.96
(Rs. in crores)
No. of States/UTs 18 5 - 4 27
covered
No. of Schools
covered 1080 1552 163 1046 3841
No. of Vocational
Sections approved 3167 4237 484 2428 10316
5.1.6 The scheme also seeks to promote experimentation and innovation in vocational education through non government organisations. Since 1987-88, six voluntary organisations/non- government organisations have been granted Rs. 37.70 lakhs for the purposes indicated below against each organisation:
S.No. Name of the Organisation. Purpose
1. Society for Rural Indus- For the Project entitled
trialisation, Ranchi "Rural Development through
Education System".
2 Indian Institute of For the project entitled
Education, Pune "Rural Technology through
Education System".
3. Central Tibetan Schools For starting Vocational
Admn., New Delhi. Courses in Shorthand and
Typing, Knitting and Motor
Mechanic.
4. Nutan Vidya Mandir, For starting the Vocational
Sharatpur. Course: Draftsman (Civil).
5. Ramakrishna Vivekanand For starting the trades:
Mission, Barrackpore. Carpentary, Tailoring and
Auto-Mechanics.
6. Gujarat Research Society, For evaluation of the project
New Delhi. "Rural Development through
Education System" run by the
Indian Institute of Education
at Vigyan Ashram, Pune.
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36 (A)
5.1.7 The Joint Council of Vocational. Education (JCVE) and its Standing Committee, as part of the Management Structure provided under the scheme of Vocationalisation of secondary education, were set-up on 20th April, 1990. The meetings of JCVE and its Standing Committee were held on 8th August, 1990, and 12th September, 1990 respectively. Important decisions taken by these bodies relate to:
* Dissemination of accurate information about the Vocational Education Programme.
* Establishing linkages with the employment sector for providing wage/self-employment to Vocational passouts.
* Establishing equivalence of certificates given to Vocational passouts vis-a-vis those awarded by ITI's/ Polytechnics.
* Arranging proper training for teachers of Vocational Courses.
* Coverage of all relevant Vocational areas under the Apprenticeship Act.
* Designing and starting appropriate bridge courses for vocational pass-out to enable them to pursue higher education.
* Starting non-formal vocational education and training programme for school drop-outs, low achievers and unemployed youth.
5.1.8 Follow-up action on the above decision is in progress. vocational wings in the directorates of school education were set up in fourteen States/Union Territories. vocational wings in SCERTs were set up in ten States/Union Territories. Vocational wings in District Education Offices were set up in seven States/Union Territories. District Vocational Education Committees were set up in four States/Union Territories and State Councils of Vocational Education (SCVE) were set up in twelve States/Union Territories. Out of the 388 Districts of 21 States/Union Territories, 155 Districts were surveyed. Curricula were developed by different States/Union Territories for over 150 Vocational Courses. So far 1022 training programmes for teachers, administrators etc. have been conducted.
5.1.9 The NCERT has also developed 'Minimum Vocational Competencies based curricula for about eighty vocational courses under the six major areas, i.e. Agriculture, Business and Commerce, Engineering & Technology, Health and Paramedical Services, Home Science and Humanities and others. These are available to the States/Union Territories for adoption/adaptation. Instructional materials were published for fourteen vocational courses and for some the material is available in manuscript form.
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5.1.10 The Regional Boards of Apprenticeship Training are being suitably strengthened to take on the additional work of placement of vocational students for apprenticeship training. So far only the Board of Apprenticeship Training Southern Region has taken up this work. A grant of Rs. 77.99 lakhs was given to the Board for payment of stipends to the vocational students and for additional staff.
5.1.11 The success of the programme will to a large extent depend upon the employment opportunities available for the vocational passouts. Several steps are being taken in this direction. The Department of Personnel and Training has requested all Ministries/Departments to undertake an immediate review of their recruitment rules for various Group 'C' posts so that vocational passouts are made eligible for appointment. The Department of Education has also taken up with various Ministries/ Departments the question of amendment of their recruitment rules to facilitate employment of vocational passouts. The States/ Union Territories are also undertaking a similar exercise.
5.1.12 Action is in progress to start vocational courses specific to the needs of the users to ensure ready employment for vocational passouts, provided they fulfil the minimum standards laid down. Such vocational courses were introduced in selected schools affiliated to CBSE in general insurance and life insurance in collaboration with the General Insurance Corporation of India and Life Insurance Corporation of India respectively. The first batch of students from the general insurance course is out and presently undergoing apprenticeship training. A vocational course for railway commercial staff has been worked out in collaboration with the Railway Board which is to be introduced from 1991-92 on an experimental basis in nine schools. The students completing this course would be employed by the Railways. Arrangements are also being finalised with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for starting vocational courses in the following areas:
* Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM)
* Opthalmic Technicians Course
* X-Ray Technicians Course
* Laboratory Technicians Course.
Ten schools under Delhi Administration were identified for starting these courses and collaborative arrangements with the hospitals for providing facilities for practical training were finalised. Instructional material for these courses in English and Hindi is under preparation and the courses will be started from the academic session 1991-92. The ANM course run by the Ministry of Health in two of their own institutions is being upgraded to a +2 level vocational course. The institutions will be given the necessary affiliation by CBSE for purposes of examination and certification.
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5.1.13 Modalities for starting three vocational courses in the Handicrafts sector namely; (i) Hand Block Printing, Textiles and Vegetable Dyeing, (ii) Embroidery (with emphasis on chiken embroidery) and (iii) Metal Craft are being worked out. The effort will be to start these courses in about ten schools in three towns of Uttar Pradesh from July, 1991. Discussions are also on with the Ministry of Tourism for starting vocational courses relevant to the tourism sector. A suggestion that the existing course in food production being run by the National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology which is for a duration of eighteen months may be upgraded to a two year vocational course is being examined in consultation with the CBSE.
5.1.14. For encouraging self-employment amongst students who have passed out from the vocational stream at +2 level, it was decided that they would be given preference for loan under the Scheme of Self- employment to Educated Unemployed Youth (SEEUY). The Departments of Industry of all State Governments/Union Territory Administrations were requested to issue necessary instructions in this regard to the General Managers of the District Industries Centres. The State Education Departments were also requested to establish contact with the District Industries Centres in their States to forge appropriate linkage between the vocational passouts and SEEUY scheme.
5.1.15 Under TRYSEM, loan facilities are arranged through Banks for persons from families below the poverty line to enable them to engage themselves in self-employment. Under this scheme, vocational passouts belonging to families below the poverty line will also be assisted with Bank loans for self-employment. The Directors of School Education in the States/Union Territories have been advised to get in touch with the Project Director, DRDA and identify children from IRDP families, for assistance under the Programme.
5.1.16 Efforts are also being made to involve the private sector in the placement of vocational students in employment. Discussions in this regard have been held with Rotary International, Lions Club, National Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
5.1.17 The Budget Provision (Revised Plan) for the scheme during 1990-91 was Rs. 7720.00 lakhs out of which an amount of Rs.7399.99 lakhs was released.
Educational Technology Programme 5.2.1 An Educational Technology Programme was started in the Central sector during the Fourth Plan period in the year 1972 for widening access to and bringing about qualitative improvement in education. Under the scheme, a Centre for Educational Technology was set up in the NCERT and 100% assistance was provided to twenty one States for setting up of Educational Technology (ET) Cells.
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5.2.2 In view of expansion of broadcasting facilities with the advent of INSAT and concommitant demand for educational software, the Ministry of Education decided to take on the responsibility of production of educational television programmes for relay through satellites. Accordingly, a scheme was prepared by the Ministry of Education for creating Educational Television (ETV) programme production facilities within the education sector on a decentralised basis by setting up a Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET) in the NCERT and State Institutes of Educational Technology (SIETs) in six States viz. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh and strengthening of ET Cells in other States.
5.2.3 To meet the objectives of National Policy on Education, 1986, the Educational Technology Scheme was revised in 1987 with the broad objectives of strengthening of both ETV and audio programme production capabilities and providing wider access to the same by supplying one lakh Colour Television (CTV) sets and five lakh Radio Cum Cassttee Players (RCCPs) to schools.
5.2.4 A Group with Dr. Kiran Karnik as convenor was set up in August, 1987 to study and make recommendations on the use of satellite services for education and the media time requirement of various sectors of education. The recommendations of the Group are under Consideration of the Government.
5.2.5 Programme production has commenced in CIET and all the six SIETs. In fact from the academic year 1988-89, responsibility for programme production which was hitherto being shared between CIET and Doordarshan on 50:50 basis has been taken over by CIET and SIETs. The satellite based ETV service presently provides educational programmes of 45 minutes duration in each of the five regional languages viz. - Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi, Oriya and Telugu telecast in the time sharing mode of five days a week for children in the age group of 6-11 years from Monday to Friday in each of the six INSAT States and other Hindi speaking areas. Programmes for primary level teachers are telecast on every Friday.
5.2.6 The CIET has produced 608 ETV programmes upto March, 1991 and 864 language versions. It has also produced 459 capsules for the programme of Mass Orientation of Teachers during the summers of 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1989. The number of programmes produced by SIETs is given in the table below:
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Table 5.2
Number of Programmes Produced by SIETs
SIET No. of programmes
1. Andhra Pradesh 510
2. Bihar 91
3. Gujarat 725
4. Maharashtra 996
5. Orissa 87
6. Uttar Pradesh 539
5.2.7 The SIETs have been a bit slow in achieving adequate production capability of the required standard because of management and technical manpower problems faced by them. The Working Group set up to suggest ways and means of improving the functioning of SIETs, among other things, suggested conversion of SIETs into autonomous organisations in the form of registered Societies under the aegis of the State Governments. SIETs in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh have already become autonomous. SIETs in Bihar, Maharashtra are likely to be registered as Societies shortly. With the remaining two States (Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat) the matter is being pursued.
5.2.8 Efforts are also on to involve private producers in production of ETV Programmes. The NCERT has set up a Committee to evolve modalities for involving outside producers to produce video/films for CIET.
5.2.9 An ambitious programme of distribution of CTV sets and RCCPs was undertaken under the ET Scheme. Funds are also being sanctioned for audio programme production by State Governments and non-Government organisations.
5.2.10 The summary of achievements under the ET Programme is presented below:
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Table 5.3
Education Technology: Achievements
1987-88 1988-89 1989-90 1990-91 Total
Amount Spent
(Rs. in Crores) 14.14 16.20 16.50 14.57 61.41
No. of States covered 13 29 31 32 32
cumulative
No. of TV sets
distributed 10049 12049 2799 6232 31129
No. of Radio cum Cassette
Players distributed 37562 67735 49963 72883 228113
CONTINUING SCHEMES
1. Amount released to
CIET (Rs. in crores) 5.28 3.10 3.146 2.37 13.89
2. Amount released to
SIETs (Rs. in crores) 1.40 1.53 2.20 0.44 6.02
(6 INSAT States A.P., Plan
Bihar, Gujarat, 0.45
Maharashtra, Orissa Non-
and U.P.) Plan
3. Amount released to
ET Cells (Rs. in
Crores) 0.22 0.26 0.54 - 1.02
4. Amount released to
States/UTs for TVs/
RCCPs (Rs. in
crores) 7.15 11.19 10.60 11.66 40.6
5. Development of
software for
RCCPs. - - - 0.10 0.10
(Rs. in crores)
Improvement of Science Education in Schools 5.3.1 In order to improve the quality of science education and promote scientific temper, as envisaged in NPE - 1986, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Improvement of Science Education In Schools was started during the last quarter of 1987-88. Under this Scheme, financial assistance is provided to States/Union Territories for provision of science kits to upper primary schools; upgradation and strengthening of science laboratories in secondary and higher secondary schools upto a desired standard; upgradation of libraries in secondary and higher secondary schools; setting up of District Resource Centres for science
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education, development of instructional materials and training or Science and Mathematics teachers. The Scheme also provides for assistance to voluntary organizations active in the field of science education for undertaking innovative projects and resource support activities in science education. The Scheme is intended to cover all Government and Government-aided upper primary, secondary and higher secondary schools in a phased manner by the end of the Eighth Plan.
5.3.2 Data of achievements under the Scheme during 1987-88 to 1990-91 are furnished in the Table below:
Table 5.4
Science Education : Achievements
1987-88 1988-89 1989-90 1990-91 Total
Amount spent
(Rupees in crores) 29.27 29.16 21.60 20.59 100.62
No. of States/Union
Territories covered 19 15 21 24 32
No. of Schools covered
1. Upper Primary 20,719 14,037 8,463 5,791 49,010
(Science Kits)
2. Sec./Higher Sec.
(library assistance) 8,899 5,784 1,699 3,843 20,225
3. Sec./Higher Sec.
(laboratory assistance) 6,920 5,392 2,761 3,981 19,054
No. of Voluntary Org.
covered (for innovative
programmes) - cumulative - 8 11 7 14
No. of Institutions
assisted for setting up
of District Resource 80 13 22 60 175
Centres