Govt plans tools of the trade for Std 9 students

Government estimates put the current strength of non-enrolled students in the primary sector at 2.38 crores; five years down the line, it reckons, 60-70 per cent of these (1.5 crores) will continue education till the secondary level. That’s a massive, unforeseen increase to the 3 crore enrolled students’ population; how to teach them is the problem.

If, as expected, 1.5 crore additional students make their way up to Class IX by 2008, the government knows it would be impractical to follow the traditional history-geography-science-maths route in the same drab, uninteresting way. Instead, 30 per cent of this possible 4.5 crore plus-14 population, demanding secondary or even higher secondary population, will be diverted to these vocational courses.

A draft implementation plan of the ‘‘National Programme on Technical and Vocational Education and Training’’ is ready. Officials of the department of secondary and higher education, now staring jealously at the flow of funds to elementary education, have prepared it with diligence.

In fact, even before vocational education becomes the buzzword five years hence, the planners have already listed some key trades and crafts, to which the Class IX student can be introduced.

For example, small-scale trade in the metros now needs technicians with knowledge in house wiring and motor winding. It needs auto mechanics, television repairers and those who can mend refrigerators and air-conditioners.

Carpentry will always have a demand, as would welding and fabrication. Electricians with a degree of knowledge about the working of electronic gadgets are among the most wanted technicians in urban centres.

There are 19 trades where emphasis is being laid straight away. And five years from now the number of subjects in vocational and technical education courses at the Class IX level would go up to 300.

And specific regional needs will determine which subject would be taught where. For example, Class IX students of Bengal and Assam can be introduced to jute technology. The intricate art of traditional carpet-manufacturing can be passed on to students from eastern Uttar Pradesh.

The list is quite comprehensive and covers the entire spectrum of traditional and non-traditional occupations in the country. Even fish seed production is being offered as a separate course other than fisheries, fish processing and inland fisheries.

Sheep and goat husbandry will be taught along with sericulture, apiculture, floriculture and dairying. There are courses which appear super-specialised like post-harvest technology.

Bearing urban needs in mind, the government also proposes to offer courses in pre-school and creche management, interior science, tourism and travel technology (could be anything from paragliding to river-rafting) and even insurance. Tailoring, incense stick manufacturing have all been included in the curriculum.

But the moot question remains: how will the government raise the huge amount of money that might be needed to build the vocational education infrastructure? The government has released funds for the setting up of 6,800 vocational schools in the country.

There are around 3,000 ITIs and some 1,224 approved institutes of diploma engineering. Community polytechnics number only a few hundred. The financial dilemma will remain.

Again, the business chambers will be approached. The international donor agencies will be petitioned. But HRD minister Murli Manohar Joshi has told his officials this is not a dream.