Can vocational training be an alternative system

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION HAS THE ADDED ADVANTAGE OF REINVIGORATING THE DYING ARTS AND CRAFTS

Today’s educational system in India could arguably be categorized as antiquated, having been set up to feed an industry-colony model. This assumes even more importance, given the failure in providing basic ‘formal education’ to all parts of the country. Though many arguments highlight the current system’s inability to provide formal education, as also its failure to create employable professionals, not enough solutions are presented as alternatives.

One way to turn this sorry state around could be to provide a vocation-based education, which may not only be easier to impart on a large-scale basis, but would also prepare students for the work they are going to be actually engaged in on a day-today basis.

In March 2019, an employability report stated that an alarming 80% of Indian engineers are unemployable because they do not possess the technical and technological skills required in today’s market. In other words, their four years of education did not equip them for the real work world. A vocational education, on the other hand, can be likened to a person learning on the job, the learning ground being in school/college.

The workplace right now, and of the near future, is changing rapidly, leaving the age-old educational system far behind. A certificate from a prestigious university could very well be of negligible value in the job market. The gig economy, expected to take over services jobs shortly, does not require a master’s degree, but rather skills, and the willingness, to work for anyone, at any time, from anywhere.

Automation is likely to render a good percentage of the workforce obsolete in the coming decades, whereas vocational education, targeted at jobs that are difficult, or impossible, to automate is the way forward. While select professions require extensive study and research—medicine and astrophysics, for example— fields that do not need such requisites far outnumber them. Students’ burden of making the demanding examination grades of overnight studies, stress, and panic, all to attain a rank that makes no difference to their useable skills in the real world may do well to turn to vocational education which hones practical skills.

Traditional formal education typically involves learning theories and other add-ons which are completely unrelated to developing a specific skill, and a significant portion of the subjects taught in class is promptly forgotten in under a month, given its irrelevance. A vocational course, on the other hand, targets only the student’s required skills. It is geared to train the student on various software platforms that a designer, for instance, might need, deep diving into design to foster the student’s creative side. This could result in a highly employable designer who has the required skills as also the training to take on design jobs from home. This is just one of many fields where vocational education has the potential to be more beneficial to an individual.

Vocational education has the added advantage of reinvigorating the dying arts and crafts such as carpentry, woodwork, and artisanal skills that fell victim to mass production over the last few decades. India is the cradle of the arts and crafts, and a good percentage of these ancient skills will eventually be lost to time unless people can find gainful ways to keep them alive

This said, one of the setbacks for vocational education, at least in India, is the stigma attached to it. Take, for example, those students who choose to go through the motions of attending engineering college rather than opt to get trained in machining.. It is also a matter of social prejudice that prizes an engineer above one with technical training, regardless of the fact that the latter is better able to handle industrial machines. However, though vocational training might not seem to match the sensibilities of the masses, this has been true of all significant changes worldwide.. Nevertheless, in a nation choked with an alarming increase in the number of less fortunate uneducated, as well as educated yet unemployable youth, work towards an immediate shift in established priorities is imperative.

Recognizing the need for vocational training, the Government of India has instituted measures to promote vocational training, including the setting up of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) in 2009 which encourages private sector participation in skilling by means of innovative funding models. Further, the National Skills Development Agency (NSDA) was created in June 2013 in order to work with State governments to rejuvenate and synergise skilling efforts. In addition, well established centres of Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) have now started concentrating on several fields that can benefit from functioning outside the umbrella of formal education, making a mark apart from traditional core engineering fields. These initiatives are certainly a step in the right direction, holding out hope that current efforts will be scaled to meet the growing demand for skilled manpower.

Five graduates of Saveetha School of Law (SSL) were appointed as District Munsiff/ Magistrates. Post their graduation from SSL, these students prepared for Judicial Service Examination with dedication.

The following are the names of the students and the districts to which they have been appointed as judges: Chengalpet- Thiruvannamalai District – Mr. K. Muthuraj, Villupuram District Ms. R. S. Preganndha, Arcotranipet District-ms. M. Amudha Mony, Dindukkal District- Mr. C. B. Mullaivanan, Erode DistrictMs. V.C Tharani.

Beating last year’s impressive count of 3020 offers from the big four IT companies, a phenomenal 4749 offers have been made to the graduating class of 2020 students of the SRM Institute of Science and Technology this placement season. More than 600 companies have already visited the campus since the commencement of the placement season on July 22 and over 6514+ offers have been made. Many more companies are expected to come as the placement season will continue till April/may 2020. This year, the highest offer made on the campus, was 41.6 lakhs per annum by Microsoft.

Organizations like Veritas and Pay Pal have made internship linked placement offers. Apart from this, TCS has made 183 offers under ‘Digital Track’ (7 lakhs per annum), said Director, Career Centre at SRMIST, Sriram S Padmanabhan. This is the highest number of offers made by these four companies in any single campus in the country, he said. The centralized placement process organized at Kattankulathur campus, brings students from SRM Campuses including Modinagar, Ramapuram and Vadapalani, said Padmanabhan.

Celebrating the accomplishments of the five graduates of SSL, Dr. N.M. Veeraiyan, The Founder&chancellor, SIMATS, congratulated them and advised them to be fair and equitable

in their positions and work with sincerity and dedication. Principal of SSL, Prof. Dr. Asha Sundaram, congratulated them and announced the opening of Saveetha IAS/ Judicial Academy in the campus. She assured that SSL would relentlessly train and develop competent law graduates who would become responsible judges and civil servants in the near future.