The State government will soon introduce vocational education and skill training for students of ninth standard in 100 government high schools across 10 educational districts in the State.

Keeping vocational courses out of the purview of general education has led to a severe shortage of trained manpower, particularly in the fields of information technology, automobile and retail trade. Realising this lacuna, the Union Human Resources Development ministry came up with National Vocational Education Qualification Framework (NCEQF) to incorporate vocational courses in the present education system - from high school to higher education level.

The primary objective of the Framework plan is to hone the skills of the students according to their abilities and inclinations and to meet the global demand for a qualified workforce.

Three states - Karnataka, Haryana and West Bengal - have been selected for the programme on a pilot basis. As many as 10,000 students of ninth standard spread over Bangalore Rural, Ramanagar, Mysore, Hassan, Belgaum, Dharwad, Sirsi, Gulbarga, Raichur and Yadgir educational districts will benefit from the programme initially.

Facilities available

The schools have been selected on the basis of the available infrastructure and teaching facility. Schools located close to industries have been given preference. Two begin with, vocational courses will be offered in two disciplines and a student can select any one of them.

A maximum of 50 students will be selected for each discipline. The course curriculum comprises soft skills, life skills, theory and practical classes, visit to industries, lectures by experts and project work. The students will be graded on through continuous and comprehensive evaluation. Each discipline will have 200 hours of classes.

Students who successfully complete the programme will be awarded National Certificate for Work Preparation from Sector Skill Council and Karnataka State Secondary Education Board.

Dr Vishnukanth S Chatapalli, the advisor for Karnataka Vocational Training and Skill Development Corporation and member of Karnataka Knowledge Commission has been appointed the president of the State committee for NCEQF. Senior officials of the Primary and Secondary Education Department will be the members of the committee which will monitor the implementation of the programme.

Sources in the Education Department said teachers of Industrial Training Institutes will be deputed for vocation course in automobile sector while a few software companies have evinced interest in providing faculty for the course in information technology.