India is the youngest workforce nation in the world having 75% of its population in the working-age group. India produces a 12 million working population every year. With the rise in population, India has also seen a rise in educational institutes. Therefore we are seeing a huge number of graduates passing out of college every year. And do you know, according to some surveys only 5% of them are employable. I can bet, you must be knowing someone who has done engineering and is unemployed. You find such people in every corner of the country. Many such unemployed graduates apply for transcript certificate from their respective universities, get their certificate attestations done to take admission in the foreign institute to get a better education and increase their chance of employment. To reduce this gap of unemployment, PM Mr.NarendraModi has launched several programs such as National Skill Development Mission, PMKVY, NPSDE (2015), etc. to train youths to get employed. So are we really seeing any result from these schemes? Are we seeing growth in skill-based education as compared to traditional formal education?

Let’s first discuss a few drawbacks of the regular age-old formal education that a student receives in his life. Education in India has become so accessible that almost every child completes 15 years in school and 3-4 years in graduation. Educating such a huge population is a challenge in itself and therefore, the quality of education they receive deteriorates. Very few employment opportunities and increased competition further increase unemployment. Every year we come across news where engineering graduates apply for the job of cleaners in India. A few students crack the government services exam, a very little fraction of students get a high-quality job with a huge salary package, a small portion of students get intermediate jobs, and those who are not able to compete remain unemployed. Some students just fetch their transcript certificates, apply for certificates attestation, ECA, etc. and move abroad in search of better opportunities.

Advantages of Vocational training over formal education

Vocational education has never been popular among students but in recent times it is becoming the better choice of education mostly in rural areas. Students have learned the fact that it is not possible for everyone to get a white collared job and therefore they are looking for jobs where they can grow or at least earn a livelihood. With government programs, a huge number of students have been enrolling themselves in various faculties. There are major advantages of vocational training of these students such as:

1. Low cost of education than traditional graduation courses
2. Short-term courses. Since the course duration is less, the students can opt for multiple skills
3. Students gain experience in the selected field and not pieces of information as in formal education. For example, if a student opts for mechanic or carpentry, he will learn the skills and ultimately gain experience. They are not bombarded with theories that mostly have no or less application in the real world.
4. After the training, the students can start their workshops, repairing centers, or small businesses. Normal science, commerce, or art students cannot start a business with the education they have received.
5. They can easily get a job in their domain because they have skills and experience to show and not just marks.
6. The students enrolling themselves in vocational training are clear on what they want to do unlike the students doing formal educations who follow herd mentality of just completing the course and searching job.

There are many other advantages but still, not many students go for these because of the low social status, very low salary, and requirement of physical work. Well, these training are good for the poorer section of the society and students from middle-class section will prefer to be unemployed than going for these jobs. Or they will further increase their cost of education by going abroad after getting their transcript certificate and getting their certificate attestation done.

One thing that we can learn from this article is, we need such education that gives results. We don’t want an education where we spend the most important years of our life and keep wondering what to do next for the rest of our lives.