SECONDARY EDUCATION AND 
VOCATIONALISATION
 

fr. Louis xavier, national secretary, jesuit educational association of india, sterling road, nungambakkam, madras (9.11.1990)

students and parents view the secondary education today as preparation of entrance into professional and degree colleges. In such an atmosphere there is danger that attempts to integrate work experience and supw into the academic curriculum may result in ritualistic allotment of a few hours for the same. The idea of empowering people for work, though attractive calls for a radical change of attitude on the part of the academic community.

Dr. V.e. Moray, advocate, supreme court, "maduban", g-19/4, dlf qutab enclave phase-I, gurgaon (12.11.1990)

- vocational education programme should ensure that directly or indirectly it should not perpetuate traditional occupations. Vocational education should lead to introduction of modern technology in production.

Shri shiv samaddar, former steel secretary and member upsc, k-1997 chittaranjan park, new delhi-110019 (5th november, 1990)

- after receiving general education for ten years, the system should selectively make about eighty per cent of students eligible to be provided better opportunity for professional/vocational education.

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Smt. Shakuntala saxena, headmistress, junior high school, uttarkashi (5th october, 1990)

- more funds should be provided for voationalisation of education. It should be introduced from class ix.

Shri rajpal tyagi, all india democratic teachers' organisation, joya- distt. Moradabad, pin-244222

- vocationalisation should be given more importance. After 10 years school education students be given formal. Training in vocational trades. On completion of one/two year vocational course diploma/certificate be awarded. More technical colleges should also be established.

- Employment agencies should intimate their manpower requirement to the institutions imparting vocational or professional training. The courses should be organised on the basis on this requirement.

- Literature and social sciences should be made compulsory alongwith other subjects in the vocational and professional institutions.

Smt. Subhadra jain, marudhar girls school, p.o. Vidyawari, station rani 306115, distt. Pali (rajasthan)

- practice schools and work benches may not be available in every area. Vocational education should be such that it enables the student to start his own employment venture in the village.

Shri rajpal tyagi, secretary, all india democratic teacher's organisation, central office-88 b.b. Ganguly street, calcutta-700012

- vocational education courses at the secondary stage should be so organised as to suit the future plans of students I.e. Those who

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want to discontinue studies after class x should be taught such skills which will earn them a livelihood. After completion of the course they should be awarded diplomas.

- Literature and social science should also be taught to the students of vocational/industrial technical training institutes.

Shri kameshwar prasad bahuguna, camp - takkar bappa chhatravas tehri- tehri garwal

- vocationalisation of education is unrealistic. Concept of practice school and work benches is not clear.

Shri lajja ram tomar, all india organising secretary, vidya bharati akhil bharatiya shiksha sangathan, saraswati kunj, nirala nagar, lucknow-226020

- entire education system should be vocationalised.

Shri pankanj shree, c/o shri ramesh chandra, kalal toli, p.o. Church road, ranchi-834001

- emphasis should be given to employment oriented education.

Shri h.k. Thakur, president, vanavasi seva kendra, p.o. Adhaura, distt. Rohtas, bihar

- vocational education should be introduced at the secondary stage.

Shri virendra prakash pancholi, 3 days, irrigation campus machhala magara scheme, udaipur, rajasthan

- more I.t.is should be set up to popularise vocational education. Right to work should be made a fundamental right.

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Dr. Govind singh, mla, block 3/86-87, vidhayak niwas, bhopal

- vocational education should be provided.

Dr. P.c. Bansal, b-58, inder puri, new delhi (8th november, 1990)

- vocational education has not been accepted as part of the school curriculum anywhere in the world with the exception of ussr. The trend is back to basics.

- While introducing integrated vocational education courses, it should be ensured that the academic content is not reduced.

- In the entire process of education, a culture of respect for socially useful work and productive labour should be developed.

Shri thimmanagouda patil, head master, govt. Model higher primary school, munirabad, distt. Raichur, karnataka (3rd november, 1990)

- vocational education should not be separate from general education. It must) however, be borne in mind that vocationalisation of education will be an expensive affair.

Shri n.r. Hiremath, ex-dy. Director of public instruction, govt. Of karnataka, and principal, sri sarvajana college of education, bangalore (31st october, 1990)

- the committee's detailed suggestions on the implementation of the programme of education through supw as medium of education are very important. This programme of education through supw (I) can help the student to discover his potentials of the hand, head and heart, quite early in life, develop them to the fullest, choose his own vocation in life and thus empower him for work; and (ii) provide meaningful and purposeful situations for the development of moral

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and spiritual values both personal and social. This will automatically provide a situation for continuous and comprehensive evaluation by the student himself and by the teachers also about the progress of the student.

Shri n.r. Hiremath, ex-dy. Director of public instruction, govt. Of karnataka, and principal, sri sarvajana college of education, bangalore (31st october, 1990)

- if work is made the medium of education, there will be very few dropouts as the working class children will find the school programmes meaningful will and stay in school for a longer period.

Shri om shrivastava, astha sansthan, 109 kharol colony, udaipur, rajasthan (27th october, 1990)

- the issue of work "empowering" is somehow confusing. The emphasis on integral or organic nature of work in education system is very important. The approach adopted to defragmentise academic and vocational stream is an important focus for school education.

Shri khem singh gill, vice-chancellor, punjab agricultural. University, ludhiana (29th october, 1990)

- although the paper emphasises vocationalisation of education particularly at secondary level it does not clearly spell, out various vocations which can be easily adopted. Since more than 2/3rd of the population lives in villages and is largely dependent on agriculture, it may be appropriate to introduce various agricultural vocations at this stage. This may not require major infrastructural expenditure but will serve the purpose of creating dignity of labour among the students.

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Shri shatrughna prasad singh, mlc, general secretary, bihar secondary shikshak sangh, jamal road, patna (9th october, 1990)

- vocational courses should be formulated in such a manner that they become relevant to both organised and unorganised sectors. These courses should also be according to the local requirements.

Shri p.c. Mathur and dr. Chandra mouli singh, indian society for public affairs, lal bhawan, barkat nagar, jaipur (30th september, 1990)

- vocationalisation was a failure in the past.

Shri k. Ramamoorthy, additional chief secretary, government of gujarat, education department, sardar bhawan, sachivalaya, gandhinagar-382010 (26th october, 1990)

- secondary education including higher secondary education should function as one unit. There should also be no separate streams like vocational. Or academic. It should be possible to have vocational subjects alongwith other academic subjects.

- The idea of introduction of modular courses to allow maximum flexibility and idea of multiple entry and exit points and operational linkages between the world of school and the world of work and work-benches is welcome. However, this would involve additional outlay on secondary education which should be considered for funding through a centrally sponsored scheme.

Shri anil biswas, editor, ganashkti, muzaffar ahmad bhawan, 31, alimuddin street, calcutta-700016 (27th october, 1990)

- vocational courses should be so designed as to take into consideration the need of both the organised and the unorganised sectors. User institutions might be asked to design the courses and also impart instructions.

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shri k.k. Tandon, secretary general, punjab state recognised school teachers (& other employees) union h.o. 19 Sewak colony, patiala (30th october, 1990)

- schooling beyond class viii should be vocationalised.

Shri p.n. Panicker, state resource centre, kanfed, saksharatha bhavan, trivandrum, (panel discussion held at thiruvananthapuram on 1st november, 1990)

- in order to implement the idea of socially useful productive work, colossal investment of money is needed. Besides lakhs of teachers have to be given orientation training in order to equip them for this new experiment. The necessary infrastructure for giving training to the teachers has to be built up in a phased manner. If adequate attention is not devoted in this regard, the whole experiment would be a failure.

Shri h.p. Biswas, programme officer, deptt. Of adult and continuing education, university of delhi, delhi (one day discussion held at bangalore on 3rd november, 1990)

- vocationalisation has not attracted good responses on account of lack of recognition from the employment sector. May be legislation could be made for recognition of vocational training by all.

Human resources development centre for teachers, rashtreeya vidyalaya teachers college, jayanagar, bangalore-110011 (discussion held on 8th october, 1990).

- The proposals on decentralised management are good but the modalities of operation should be legally defined to protect good academic efforts from being rejected by vested interests.

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Bangalore city south district secondary schools head master's and pre- university college principal's association, kalasipalayam, bangalore- 560002 (recommendations made in a special committee meeting held on 11.10.90)

- all efforts should be made to empower people to work. But our experience for the last forty years has shown that our vocational courses are merely theortical and those who come out of it feel themselves as fish out of water when they enter the field of work. Care should be taken, therefore, to make these courses really practical in order to effect operational linkages between school and work places.

University of delhi and indian university association for continuing education (suggestions made in one day discussion held in new delhi on 30th october, 1990)

- there seems to be no academic justification in suggesting a preponement of the introduction of vocationalisation. The very decision to introduce vocationalisation would have implications for a new process of curriculum construction. The committee needs to explain if vocationalisation would be in addition to the existing academic courses. Studies relating to the conditions critical for a meaningful implementation of the concept of vocationalisation should be undertaken. Excessive emphasis on vocationalisation should not reduce education to the level of a mere trade. Educational institutions can train the young but cannot get them jobs. The emphasis, therefore, should be to make the young trainable, not trained for specific occupations since waiting period for specific occupations tended to be long. The committee needs to think in terms of an innovative curriculum content for a programme "readiness for vocationalisation". "Educational capital"

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is largely underutilised in india; buildings of schools and colleges were used only for a few hours. Vocationalisation of education could be facilitated by measures aimed at enhancing the hours of use of "educational. Capital".

Rajya vidwat parishad, rajasthan, adarsh vidya mandir, shiksha mahavidyalaya, raja park, jaipur-302004 (recommendation made in seminar held at jaipur on 13-14th october, 1990

- the vocational component should be included at the secondary stage in the form of work-experience/supw as an integral part of curriculum, but not as a separate subject. At the plus two stage vocationalisation of education should commence, which should include additional vocational component for job placement to prepare the pupils for self or wage employment. The vocational education under academic umbrella had not been a successful, experiment in the past. Vocationalisation of education at plus two stage, therefore, should be imparted in separate institutions, fully equipped and manned by skilled and technical personnel.

Southern regional centre of the council for social development, hyderabad and indian university association for continuing education, new delhi (one day discussion held at hyderabad on 22nd october, 1990)

- vocationalisation of education must equip young people for work readiness, rather than training in specific vocations in view of the uncertainty in the job markets.

Shri ranjeet singh, general secretary, bhartiya shikshan mandal, uttar pradesh, 2-a/411-a, azad nagar, kanpur

- vocational education should be imparted from classes x or xii. In rural areas vocational subjects should be in keeping with their local traditions and needs.

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Workshop organised by the university of bombay at bombay on 26th september, 1990

- vocational education and grant of fundamental right to work are good concepts but there should be enough job opportunities in the economy before these could be done. Role specifications need to be defined for every job opportunity so that degree is not taken as a sine qua non for every vocation. Vocationalisation will be a success only if its objectives at different stages of education are defined in clear terms.

- The higher education system must become open and flexible to permit entry and exit at various levels to facilitate higher education of students who are in the vocational stream. Vocationalisation in the higher education must be conceived in the context of the core disciplines as applications of theory to practice for specific techniques and production needs, and with the advancing phases must aid in developing an increasing attainment of professionalism.

- Right to work and vocationalisation at all levels will call for a much greater share of the gnp to education at least for the next 30 years, say to an extent of 10%.

Dr. S. Muthukumaran, vice-chancellor, bharathidasan, university, tiruchirapalli, tamil nadu.

- An intensive specialised vocational training may not be importable to every student, given the resource constraints; vocational schools/technical institutes may have to be sustained on strong footing as distinct entities.

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- The very concept of vocationalisation needs a re- interpretation. Vocationalisation must help develop the potential skills in the students; these potential skills may include skills of not only professional interest in the conventional sense, but also the artistic skills such as fine arts and performing arts.

- All the students need not be put through the same mill. A minimum core content of academic and vocational inputs may be prescribed for all; over and above that, the students be given option to choose any further mix of academic and vocational inputs.

- The local user agencies/potential employers may be involved in the management of the schools.

- Amendment of apprenticeship act be introduced as early as possible, with a view to providing for apprenticeship to the students at secondary stage and also after passing the secondary stage.

- At the tertiary level also, appropriate vocational component involving higher scientific and technical skills can be introduced and provision may be made for apprenticeship for such students in the apprenticeship act.

University of madras and indian university association for continuing education (views expressed in one day discussion held in madras on 21st october, 1990