“National Conference on Technical Vocation Education,
Training and Skills Development: A Roadmap for Empowerment”
was held on 17th & 18th December 2008 in New Delhi
by All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), MHRD.
1. The opening remarks of Hon. Shri Arjun Singh ji "Skill
development at the grass root level is key for India's
progress. We have the infrastructure necessary, but we
have to start making it work. This conference is an important
milestone towards this goal" gave important thoughts
to ponder on for Dr.Wagh and also perhaps to the 500 odd
delegates comprising of Vice Chancellors of Technical
Universities/Deemed Universities, Director of premier
Technical Education institutes including IITs, NITs, IIMs,
and persons from academia and industry and Secretaries
dealing with Technical Education and Directors of Technical
Education of the State Govts/UTs.
2. Professor R. A. Yadav, Chairman, AICTE, introduced
the conference aptly when he said "Technical Vocational
Education & Training and Skills Development is one
of the most crucial components of human resource development
having the potential for adding value to products and
services thereby improving the quality of life of the
people. It has been realized that with the rapidly changing
and increasingly sophisticated economies and technology,
more needs to be done in the field of vocational education
& training and skills development, to educate and
train people for employment and entrepreneurship….”
3. The technical sessions were enjoyable and gave valuable
insights in the following six areas:
3.1 The Present National & International Experiences
(Existing Systems, Schemes, Models and Best Practices)
3.2 The Present National & International Experiences
(Existing Systems, Schemes, Models and Best Practices)
Real Life Experience Sharing.
3.3 Public & Private Initiatives and Partnerships
3.4 Technical Vocational Education, Training and Skills
Development Strategies
3.5 Media Round Table
3.6 Role of Higher & Technical Educational Institutions,
AICTE, UGC & other Regulatory bodies.
Dr.Pradeep Wagh felt very elated to be included in the
technical session 3 viz. “Public and Private Initiatives
and Partnerships” along with eminent speakers viz:
- Shri A. K. Rath, Sec, School Education & Literacy
Ministry of MHRD, GOI
- Shri N. K. Sinha, Jt. Sec, MHRD, GOI
- Dr. Xavier Alphonse S. J., Director ICRDCE & Member,
UGC
- Sri Ashok Singh, Vice President, INTUC & Member,
Board of Governors, IIM, Lucknow
- Prof. K. P. Murthy, Consultant, Bosch Bangalore.
That DEIS, an NGO was given a place to express its views,
speaks a lot about the openness of the Government Authorities
to humble grass-root work of people.
DEIS as you are aware has been working for the last two
decades in the field of “Enterprise Education in
Technical, Vocational Education and Training (EE in TVET)”
which also formed the subject of paper presented.
This work of DEIS has been done with international assistance
from Netherlands, New Zealand, USA, Canada, UK, etc and
with considerable public sector co-operation from Doordarshan,
AIR, DST, PSSCIVE, MHRD, Maharashtra Education Board,
etc. Dr.Wagh was pleased to present the details of this
Public and Private Initiatives and Partnerships.
Highlight of this DEIS initiative is that the entire
work in the field of ENTERPRISE EDUCATION of DEIS is now
accepted as a national resource by MHRD and is posted
on their official web-portal:
www.sakshat.ac.in
--> Educational Resources --> Study Material -->
Enterprise Education
The material is also available on the comprehensive web
portal
www.enterprise-education.in
Dr.Wagh was particularly satisfied when an exclusive
group of delegates had a further discussion with him on
the subject.
The entire conference has served to give a new motivation
and inspiration.
DEIS shares the gigantic target set by the conference
to work towards creating a
500 million strong work force, skilled in technical, vocational
education by year 2022.
The most important question of genuine concern posed
by Dr.Wagh to the conference was , “We may target
to create a 500 million technically adept work force by
year 2022, but have we thought of who will employ them?
“
Even if an average of 10 people are to be employed by
one entrepreneur, we need some 50 million entrepreneurs
by year 2022 to employee the entire technical work force
i.e some 5 million new entrepreneurs need to be trained
and created every year. This is a tall order since the
education system in India is currently not geared for
this thinking process itself, unlike in some developed
countries like New Zealand ( www.enzt.co.nz)
where Enterprise Education is started as early as 5 years
of age in schools itself.
As a part answer , DEIS offered its continuing initiatives
and in the following areas:
1. Technical and Vocational education through ICT
2. Enterprise Education through TV media
3. Enterprise Education through Web
4. Related areas
DEIS also offers its resource materials as follows:
1. Enterprise Education Trainers Manual
2. Enterprise Education Students Activity Book
3. Interactive Business Planner (IBP) CD
4. Enterprise Education Interactive CD
5. Kalpavriksha CD – Business Opportunity Guidance
CD
6. IBP Manual
7. Enterprise Education Presentation CD
8. Udyojakta Vikas Malika , Enterprise Videos (32 volumes)
9. Udyog Sadhana – Navi Vatchaal TV Programmes (26
episodes)