Vocationalisation of education: Engine of growth in Manipur

Dr Mayengbam Lalit Singh
It is reported that literacy rate of Manipur is 76% of the total population according to 2011 census. It implies most of the population have good educational knowledge in achieving welfare being in the society.
However, employment of most of the population in organised sectors is very lacking.  Mathematically, involvement in organised sector should not be less than that of literacy rate as figured in the above. We have witnessed that most of graduates are found jobless despite a few joining in organised sector.
It reveals that educational curriculum does not necessarily provide much needed platform for future employment using educational knowledge.
While introspection curriculum in colleges in India, it is quite open that their teachings are so designed that every student should be in teaching profession or scientific exploration.  However, provision of teaching profession or being scientists cannot be afforded to each student. So, most of them who can’t excel in study, feel that their ambitions are simply achieving the degrees.
It is often found that students start exploring for their profession in those sectors irrelevant to their degrees. In order to modify these flaws, Ministry of Human Resource and Development notified the circular in 2017 that compels the vocational courses compulsory in higher secondary educations. At present, vocational courses have been offered in colleges prior to this recent circular.
When introspection, scopes of vocational courses in the colleges are too limited with the range from food processing to tourism. The main lacuna in the success of vocational courses in college is the fusion of course with funding agencies such as banks; and supply chain of output from these courses (in other words supply chain of those produced by trainees). It is witnessed that banks are indifferent to those courses since trainees are lacking guarantor in granting loan. Similarly, presently existing entrepreneurs are found with no willingness in absorbing those trainees in the process of production.
Despite the introduction of vocational education in higher secondary education, more weightage should be given to college students. In India, many students after completion of their graduates, they are reportedly unemployed due to lack of skill.
In order to avoid of such unemployment, government should be careful in setting up vocationalisation of education. The present curriculum for vocational courses seems to be obsolete since the curriculum does not match with the parent subjects. For instance, it is found that in making subject combination, students in any streams can opt for vocational papers which are quite contrary. The best strategy is offering vocational training curriculum that can be matched with parent subjects.
Let’s say that students in physics should be advised to opt for vocational paper such as repairing electronic gadgets, equipments and machinery. Manipur along with North East Regions is rich in aromatic and medicinal plans. Hence students under bio chemistry subjects can explore their expertises in the extraction of medicines and other cosmetic oils and jells.
 Likewise commerce and economics students can train themselves in business houses. In Manipur, many sectors are still left unorganised which result in handicapped in formulation of many policies. Even manpower in department in economics and statistics are in short. In order to fill up strength, government should introduce policy to employ graduate students in collecting data as part of their curriculum. This would enable them to learn and deal with the collection of data for further policy framing of state such as in launching insurance policies of households if government desires.
    Moreover, financial institutes such as banks also should initiate especial policies of lending to these students. In Manipur it is commonly observed that banks are financial institutes which lend to big business houses and government employees.
They hardly grant loans to hard working poor farmers, craftsmen, small entrepreneurs since these groups don’t have enough assets against the loans they look forward to. In competitive environment, banks should not only grant loans to these groups but also create demand and supply chains in consultation to e-commerce business groups. It is often found that government lacks in being custodian for small entrepreneurs. Governmental departments just initiate many programmes but their participation in fulfilling programmes is so limited. They should instruct related entrepreneurs, business houses, manufacturing firms to accommodate students to undergo training.
This will bridge these trained students with expanding size of respective firms. Coincidently government can instruct banks to grant loans these students based on the size of their proposals. Finally government should invite both local and non local trading companies to deal in outputs produced by the entrepreneurs.
If the above mentioned policies are fulfilled properly, unemployment problems in Manipur may be reduced to minimal level. On other hand, there may be high growth in state domestic product that yields in the welfare being of people in Manipur.
The writer is an Assistant Professor, Dept. of Economics, Kha Manipur College, Kakching