The Hindu Business Line : Learning to work

IT'S now post-exam fever in Kerala as hundreds of anxious students and their worried parents scan the results of a multitude of school-leaving and professional entrance examinations, hoping to strike that lucky note that will orchestrate the success of the future careers of the young ones. Sure enough, given the average Keralite parent's overzealous penchant for the medical and engineering professions, these were the sectors that attracted all the attention.

Simultaneously, almost unnoticed by those poring over the engineering and medical entrance examination results, another set of results was announced - those of the Vocational Higher Secondary Examination held last March. Of the 27,020 candidates who appeared, 21, 859 cleared Parts I and II, 2,478 of them with distinction and 12,448 with a first class each. The number of candidates who have passed with a second class is 6,313. The percentage of pass is 80.9.

Even more interesting was the news that, this time around, students from government vocational higher secondary schools fared better than those from private schools. Most of the top ranks were bagged by candidates from such schools.

Of the 92 schools that recorded hundred per cent success, most are run by the State Government. Could the State Government actually be doing something right after all?

Perhaps there is a pointer somewhere in this curious statistic to the educational priorities that Kerala ought to be chasing. Vocational education, after all, is training for a specific vocation in industry or agriculture or trade, training that prepares learners for certain careers or professions that are traditionally non-academic and directly related to an occupation.

With close to 38 lakh educated job seekers in Kerala, surely acquiring such occupational skills ought to be the natural choice of the youth of the State. But attitudes die hard, and as long as vocational courses are seen as infra dig, they are unlikely to attract many takers.

Even in those industrial countries where vocational education is considered mainly a post-compulsory provision, things are changing as those societies realise the fruitful potential of using work-oriented studies for general educational purposes in compulsory primary and secondary schooling. For instance, the Bureau for Private Post-secondary and Vocational Education of the California Department of Consumer Affairs, which regulates approximately 3,000 schools serving an estimated 400,000 students, claims to "contribute to California's economy, providing educational options for younger students, and increasingly catering to older students looking to advance or change their careers." Considering this, a State like Kerala should certainly explore the potential of employment-related technology skills that vocational education courses impart.

This is even more relevant in the light of the claim that not all who figure in the recent rank lists for admission to the engineering and medical courses in the State for the year 2005, will finally make it to the course or college of their choice. Although 36,940 students have been included in the published engineering rank list, Kerala's colleges can offer only 22,656 seats.

In the medical stream, 46,235 candidates have found a place in the State rank list, but the number of seats currently available is only 6,493. However, according to E.T. Mohammed Basheer, Minister for Education, the number of seats is subject to change and will be finally known only at the commencement of the Centralised Allotment Process, scheduled to be held from July 1.

As an organized educational programme that is directly related to the preparation of individuals for employment, vocational education ought not to be dismissed as a second-class option for the really hapless.

The writer can be contacted at kgkumar@gmail.com

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