Special Report

Criminal neglect of vocational education

Brahmanical disdain and neglect of blue-collar vocational education and training has resulted in a severe shortage of trained technicians and skilled workers which is costing the Indian economy billions of rupees annually.
Summiya Yasmeen investigates

It’s the biggest blind spot of post-independence India’s education establishment. Decades of brahmanical disdain and neglect of blue-collar vocational education and training (VET) has resulted in a severe shortage of trained technicians and skilled workers, which is costing the economy billions of rupees annually in terms of slipshod, sub-optimal maintenance and repairs as untrained factory employees, plumbers, carpenters, motor mechanics etc learn on the job through trial and error.  

According to iWatch, a Mumbai-based voluntary organisation, only 2 percent (1.5-2 million) of the student population (15-25 years) in the country is enrolled in VET programmes (cf. over 80 percent in Europe and 60 percent in the Asian tiger nations such as Malaysia, Korea and Taiwan). Communist China boasts over 500,000 VET institutes, while India has only 5,100 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and another 1,745 polytechnics. Students in the US can choose from 1,500 VET programmes while India has identified only 171 trades and skills. No vocational training is offered at the secondary school level in India (cf. Germany, where all schools are obliged to offer vocational electives). The fallout: employment agencies of the state governments have 40 million educated unemployed on their musters even as Indian industry is experiencing a severe shortage of skilled personnel. That’s because these 40 million youth are barely functional literates, unskilled in any trade or vocation.

"For almost six decades the Central and state governments have criminally neglected vocational education and training. Currently 98 percent of the 11 million students in higher education are enrolled in universities and colleges and of those who graduate, 72 percent are from the arts stream. Most graduates are not trained in any skill or vocation and need expensive on-the-job training. Only 2 percent of school leavers opt for vocational training, of way below international standard. The result is that in the employment marketplace there’s an abundance of engineers and MBAs but a severe shortage of trained carpenters, plumbers, mechanics and skilled workers. The situation calls for urgent reallocation of resources in favour of vocational education. There’s no doubt in my mind that widespread accessibility to VET is vitally necessary for India to maintain or improve its current annual rate of economic growth," says Mumbai-based Krishan Khanna, an alumnus of IIT-Kharagpur who gave up a corporate career in 1992 to promote i Watch, "a national citizens’ movement for transforming India", particularly its education system. i Watch has tied up with UK-based City & Guilds, one of the world’s largest VET providers, to offer its 600 courses in 22 major disciplines in India (see interview p.57).

An evangelist for vocational education who travels across the country spreading awareness about the virtues of VET, Khanna attributes the continuous neglect of vocational education to the way it’s structured by government. Typically, vocational education is offered at two levels: after class X and class XII and its delivery is split three ways. First, there are the over 5,100 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) spread across the country which fall under the jurisdiction of the Union HRD ministry and state governments. Second, the Directorate General of Employment & Training (DGE&T) in the Union ministry of labour which is the "apex organisation for development and coordination at the national level for programmes relating to vocational training", offers formal training in certain specialised areas through field institutes under its direct control (there are 11 Regional Vocational Training Institutes across the country). DGE&T is also responsible for involving industry and its representative organisations such as CII and FICCI in updating and restructuring VET programmes. Third are the burgeoning private sector vocational institutes mushrooming across the country.

"Splitting VET between the ministry of HRD, ministry of labour and state governments has meant that none of them know what the other is doing to promote vocational education. There is no coordination between the ministries or among the ministries, industry or its representative organisations. It’s a big mess with each passing the buck to the other," despairs Khanna.

Government indifference towards vocational education and training is best evidenced in the rundown condition of most of the country’s 5,100 ITIs. Promoted by state governments over five decades to offer school leavers hands-on training in vocations like carpentry, electrical engineering and machine operations, the syllabuses and curriculums of ITIs haven’t been upgraded for decades. Ditto the machinery and equipment needed to impart hands-on training to students. Continuous failure of state governments to provide adequate funds to modernise the ITIs has lumbered the country’s well-conceived, high-potential, post secondary vocational training institutes with the image of sub-standard institutions dispensing indifferent education.

"A majority of the 228 government and government-aided ITIs in Karnataka are in bad shape. The last upgradation of machinery and syllabus happened in 1996, after which we haven’t received a single rupee from the government for upgrading our facilities. In fact, in some of our practical classes we use machinery which was installed in 1952, with the result that the few students who are recruited by manufacturing companies need to be given at least six months of on-the-job training before they become productive employees. Since the state government can’t increase its annual outlay of Rs.60 crore which has to be shared by 228 ITIs in the state, it should raise funding by charging students at least a nominal tuition fee of Rs.200-400 per month. Currently education in government ITIs is completely free," says the training director of an ITI in Karnataka who requested anonymity. Karnataka is also home to more than 512 private sector ITIs, where the ground realities are marginally better. The total student enrollment in the state’s 740 ITIs is 60,000.

Apart from ITIs, the government-controlled vocational training setup in India also comprises a network of 1,745 polytechnics across the country. Unlike the government ITIs which don’t charge tuition fees, polytechnics levy charges ranging from Rs.4,500-22,000 per year and consequently have more funds at their disposal. Says K.M. Gupta, principal of the state government Rajkiya Boys Polytechnic in Lucknow, which offers courses in six trades and skills to 850 students: "We charge annual tuition fees of Rs.5,000-20,000 and are relatively better off than the ITIs. We upgrade our syllabus regularly and last year 95 percent of our students were placed in reputable private sector companies like Larsen & Toubro and Eicher Motors. Recently we’ve introduced life skills courses such as English speaking and interview management. We still need to contemporise our infrastructure and laboratories. Moreover our faculty needs refresher courses to deliver vocational education which is relevant and meaningful. Right now this doesn’t happen because of a finance crunch," says Gupta.

With imported — especially Chinese — manufacturers flooding the domestic marketplace following the continuous reduction of import tariffs by the Union government, Indian industry urgently needs to boost shopfloor productivity and reduce equipment maintenance and downtime costs. Therefore vocational training institutes including ITIs and polytechnics across the country need a complete overhaul.

The curious reluctance of the Union and state governments to invest in modern vocational training institutes and draw up a national VET policy, is in sharp contrast to the high priority accorded by governments in western countries, the Asian tiger nations and China to VET. For instance in Australia the best vocational and professional higher education is provided by a century-old network of government colleges known as Technical and Further Education centres which attract students from around the world. In the US, vocational education (referred to as Career & Technical Education) was identified as a national priority way back in 1917 through the Smith and Hughes Act. According to reliable estimates, 50 percent of all high school students and 35 percent of college students in America enroll in vocational education courses.

In China, India’s benchmark nation, which boasts an estimated 500,000 vocational institutes, a strategically planned but quiet VET revolution has played a major role in the country’s manufacturing revolution and its transformation into the factory of the world. On November 11, 2005, the Chinese government announced that it has budgeted $1.23 billion (Rs.5,535 crore) for strengthening the country’s VET network over the next five years. Against this, the Union budget 2006-07 has made a nominal provision of Rs.97 crore for upgradation of 400 ITIs across the country.

Yet it is perhaps unfair to put all the blame for the sorry state of India’s vocational education infrastructure and policy framework on government. Because official attitudes towards VET mirror public opinion. The country’s ruling middle class with its bias for white-collar education doesn’t have vocational training on its radar screen. Despite its obvious utilitarian status and the quick self-employment oppor-tunities it offers, middle class parents and students tend to look down upon hands-on, non-formal education.

"The neglect of vocational education is not entirely the fault of government. It is also because of public and middle class mindsets and an illogical bias for white-collar employment. We don’t care about honouring or celebrating blue-collar employees. For instance even if an automobile mechanic has ten appren-tices training under him, we wouldn’t regard him a teacher. The government has fuelled such social prejudice by failing to connect vocational education with the world of work. The curriculums of most vocational institutes are obsolete and they have little interaction with industry. The consequence is that we will never catch up with China or Korea in industrial manufacturing. Our nation will pay an astronomical cost for this neglect," laments Delhi-based Dr. P.V. Indiresan, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Science and Birmingham University, and former director of IIT-Madras.

• Students studying radio & TV repair and maintenance are still being taught about transistors

But the silver lining to this scenario is that Indian industry is not wholly dependent upon run-down government-managed ITIs and polytechnics, for formally trained technicians and shop floor employees. A small and steadily growing number of private sector entrepreneurs have promoted contemporary vocational training institutes across the country. With their contemporary campuses, up-to-date syllabuses and campus placement services, they have made VET attractive for school leavers and college students.

One such private vocational training institution which has attained legendary — perhaps even global — reputation for delivering high quality professional education is the Bangalore-based Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF estb. 1964) which has 17 training centres in 14 cities across the country. Promoted with monetary grants from the Swiss government, HEKS and Swiss Contact foundations, NTTF is an ISO 9001 certified institution which trains students in 18 trades including tool and die-making, tool engineering, mechatronics and power electronics in one-three year study-cum-training programmes. And such is its entirely word-of-mouth reputation, that every year NTTF receives an average 6,000-6,500 applications, from among whom only 1,760 countrywide are admitted into its highly-valued diploma and certificate programmes. In 2006, NTTF recorded 100 percent campus placement, with its graduates signing up for annual start-up pay of Rs.1-1.5 lakh in blue-chip companies such as Intel, Infosys, TCS, Eicher Motors, TVS Motors and Videocon International.

"NTTF certificates and diplomas are especially valued because our syllabus and teaching methodologies are on a par with global standards and in tune with industry needs. In an era in which technology innovations are continuous, we upgrade the equipment and machines used in our training shopfloors every year. Moreover, our teacher-pupil ratio of 1:12 makes it possible for every student to be rigorously trained and motivated. But unlike the ITIs where tuition is free, we charge a monthly fee of Rs.3,500-5,000, despite which there’s heavy demand for admission into NTTF training centres. This means that parents and students acknowledge that vocational education is the passport to quick employment and are willing to pay for quality," says K. Venugopal, an engineering graduate of Hyderabad University who put in a five-year stint with Motor Industries Co (MICO) as a design engineer, and is currently the Bangalore-based director of NTTF.

However it’s pertinent to note that the huge inflow of admission enquiries that NTTF and too few other reputed VET institutions receive are from households at the base of the social pyramid. The country’s upwardly mobile middle class still continues to shun shop floor vocations such as tool and die making. If vocational education is inevitable, middle class parents prefer to enroll their children in private professional institutions and polytechnics offering new age vocational subjects such as fashion design, beauty therapy, hotel management, jewellery design, hair styling etc. By redefining vocational education with the more politically correct and trendier description — professional education — private sector education entrepreneurs have given VET a new lease of life. Following economic liberalisation, redesignated contemporary vocational subjects have found new social respect in India.

"New vocational subjects such as jewellery and fashion design have plenty of takers today. This is because middle class parents are shedding their academic pretensions and acknowledging the quick employment prospects these courses offer. For instance this year all our graduates were recruited at average start-up salaries of Rs.8,000-20,000 per month. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. The gems and jewellery market worldwide is growing phenomenally and India’s contribution to this market is only 3 percent even though out of every 100 gems which go into the international market, 92 are from India. If we are to substantially impact the global jewellery market, we need hundreds of vocational schools to train students in the art of jewellery design. Ditto in other vocations," says Renu Kapoor, director of the Indian Institute of Jewellery (IIJ — estb.2004), Mumbai, which has thus far trained 226 students in jewellery design technology.

Adds Niyati Gandhi, an alumnus of IIJ who signed up as marketing manager at Super Gems, a jewellery company in Mumbai last year: "I didn’t see any purpose in pursuing a college degree after class XII. And my parents agreed. I was always interested in jewellery design and the contemporary course at IIJ offered me plenty of practical training which landed me a good job. I didn’t need a BA degree."

First the HRD ministry should introduce ESD (Enterprise Skills Education) as a subject in classes V-XII in all schools countrywide. Second, it should arrange for full-time counsellors in schools to inform students about VET courses available. Third, pre-vocational courses should be started for students from class VIII onwards. This means VET centres should be established in all high and higher secondary schools across the country. Fourth, all village craft centres should be connected with the nearest VET centre in schools. And fifth, important stake holders such as students, employers, chambers of commerce and civil society should constantly interact with government and VET institutes to improve the quality of education delivered.

i Watch is collaborating with several international and domestic agencies to offer vet programmes in india. please elaborate.

i Watch is interacting with the Knowledge Commission, state governments, CII and FICCI and several NGOs to promote VET in India. We have submitted a blueprint to the HRD ministry detailing how India can integrate VET into its education system. Moreover i Watch has also volunteered to introduce VET courses in 15 states of India on a turnkey basis through collaboration with local partners.

However it’s not just private institutions like IIJ that offer new age vocational education. Some colleges have also jumped aboard the rolling vocational education bandwagon. Undergrad colleges including St. Joseph’s, Bangalore, Stella Maris, Chennai and St. Xavier’s, Mumbai offer three-year undergrad degrees (BA/ B.Sc and B.Com) with specialisation in travel and tourism, communicative English, food science, nutrition and dietetics, among other subjects. According to the University Grants Commission (UGC), which belatedly approved the introduction of vocational degree programmes in 1994, the number of colleges offering vocational degrees has grown from 1,500 to 6,000. But this number is small given that there are over 17,000 colleges countrywide.

Meanwhile although the popularity of vocational degree programmes is growing in tertiary education, too few school leavers enter VET institutes. India’s largest pan-India examination board (8,278 affiliated schools), the Delhi-based Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) learnt this truth the hard way. In the early 1990s, the CBSE board, which is under the direct control of the Union human resource development ministry, announced introduction of vocational education programmes for class XI-XII students. Its affiliated schools were given the option of introducing any of the board’s 36 prescribed vocational electives (e.g accountancy, bakery science, skin and beauty culture) to students. Seven years later in 2003, poor response from CBSE schools forced the board to withdraw 14 vocational courses.

However against this backdrop of public indifference to VET programmes in general, the phenomenal success of India’s computer training institutes which offer vocational training for the IT industry merit special mention. According to i Watch, the Mumbai-based NGO quoted earlier, India hosts over 50,000 private computer training institutes. These include frontliners like NIIT, Aptech, First Computers, Tata Infotech followed by smaller players which offer short term diploma programmes in software engineering, e-commerce, web design, internet programming, etc to school leavers.

According to NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Service Companies), there are an estimated 1.2 million professionals employed in the infotech industry, which given its growth trajectory can absorb 200,000 additional professionals every year. Krishan Khanna, founder director of i Watch (quoted earlier) believes that the success of India’s IT industry is largely due to the contribution of computer training institutes.

Khanna who has extensively researched VET systems in the West, particularly Germany, has written a blueprint for making vocational training an integral part of India’s education system. Among his recommendations which have already been submitted to the Union HRD ministry: the introduction of Enterprise Skills Education (ESD) as a subject for class V-XII students in all schools countrywide; provision of full-time career counsellors in all secondaries to advise students of the wide range of vocational subjects available and the aptitudinally suitable one to choose; pre-vocational courses to be introduced from class VIII onwards while all higher secondary schools should have a full-fledged VET training centre; deregulation of education to enable private sector entrepreneurs to promote VET institutes.

Moreover he advises that Indian industry and its representative organisations should collaborate with the Central and state governments, to revive extant vocational training institutes. "i Watch has forwarded a plan to the HRD ministry volunteering to introduce VET courses in 15 states of India on a turnkey basis in collaboration with local partners. The ministry must wake up so that all this happens fast. It is the key to solving India’s unemployment problem," says Khanna.

Though it’s a tall order to expect the somnolent education bureaucracy in Shastri Bhavan to spring into fire-fighting mode, with the demand for trained technicians and skilled workers — for the first time in Indian history — beginning to outrun supply even as the country’s fast-expanding cities bemoan a critical shortage of trained plumbers, carpenters, masons, electricians etc, the demand for high quality formal VET is exploding. In particular with the number of students entering secondary education set to leapfrog, following the spread of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (Education for All) campaign, a countrywide network of vocational education and training institutes needs to urgently materialise if Indian industry is to maintain the current annual rate of economic growth.

With Srinidhi Raghavendra (Bangalore); Hemalatha Raghupathi (Chennai); Autar Nehru (Delhi); Vidya Pandit (Lucknow) & Gaver Chatterjee (Mumbai)