Vocational training now at technical colleges

“We are looking into the proposal to be submitted to the government in this regard,” said Primary and Secondary Education Department Principal Secretary, R G Nadadur.

The Department proposes to pay honourarium to polytechnics/engineering colleges which feel the pinch of sharing their infrastructure and personnel to cater to the students of vocational courses. Currently, teaching staff in these institutions include 110 personnel on the government payrolls and 2,500 others on contract basis.

 “We will also consider upgrading the skill set of instructors in vocational training institutions and also ensure they share the responsibility of teaching with the faculty at polytechnics.”

 Will there be a change in fee structure for students who enter the vocational institutes instead of pursuing higher studies? Nadadur said there might be possibility of a nominal change as the government will have to spend extra on these students.

However, the attachment will mean that students who have been unable to get into engineering colleges and had to drop out of high school will get an exposure to technical education so as to compete in the contemporary job market.

Revamping

As of now, 29 modules are being taught to students of vocational training over a  period of two years. Equal number of committees which were constituted to look into the syllabus, in their yet-to-submit report have recommended condensing the modules into relevant topics. Accordingly, the number of modules will now be reduced to 22.

“There has been a lot of brainstorming with the Department of Public Instructions and pre-university institutions to include topics that are relevant for the students. One of the recommendations made by the committees was to involve more practical work to supplement the theories taught in classrooms,” said Nadadur .

 The committees have also recommended specific training to be given to students in these alternative vocational courses. “One suggestion that has emerged from the committee looking into the automobile module is to incorporate training for the future mechanics in handling heavy motor vehicles like trucks and buses. In the computer module, it was mostly the theories that were concentrated upon instead of the practical needs in the industry,” explained the Principal Secretary.

Other suggestions include tie-ups with specific industry partners, both public and private, for on-the-job training.