There are two types of education. One teaches us how to live and the other teaches us how to earn a living. The first is education for all. Then there is technical or vocational training for those who want to study different practical trades. It is helpful in landing a good job. Vocational training refers to education and training in some trade or profession, such as carpentry, blacksmithing, mechanics, textiles, engineering, electronics, etc. Take for instance someone who wants to be an electrician. A company will not hire a worker unless the applicant knows how to gadgets and equipment. This is to protect the firm, the individual and the client should something happen.
Education should be general as well as professional. Career education planning is necessary when students are mature enough to recognise what they want themselves to become in order to earn a living and students can seek professional advice on career education from counsellors of various career forums and programs.
In the modern era, no country can develop without qualified and skilled people. Currently in our country there are many technical and agricultural institutes, the supply of qualified labour in these centres is not satisfactory and the demand for other vocational training centres is increasing.
Advantages of vocational education:
The advantages of this specialized training are multiple. First, it addresses unemployment. It trains students in the fields of business, science and industry according to their interests. Second, it allows students to serve and learn together. Third, vocational training programs teach students manual labor. Fourth, it helps the national economy a lot.
Career courses are usually low cost as well as short-term alternative to conventional schools. Here, the focus is given on practical skills rather than theoretical. This prepares the students to get comfortable with their work in the future. Through vocational training, Students finish school faster and often have an easier time finding a job.
Drawbacks of Vocational Education:
Vocational training also has some drawbacks. Students with vocational training have poor quality of mainstream education and have no contact with art, literature or philosophy. Professional training and literary training must go hand in hand. Therefore, both types of education should be offered to students. No matter how good your skills are, students with no academic education will be considered failures by the society. Especially in India, people have negative perception about these courses. Another disadvantage of vocational education is that the students are professionals in their discipline but will have fewer opportunities outside their area of expertise.
Nevertheless In India, vocational training is very important from all points of view. It will give each student ample opportunity to use and develop their natural abilities and inclinations in the special curriculum. Therefore, we must strive to professionalize our education system. There should be different professional training courses to cover all work streams. One of the attempts to emphasize vocational training by the Government of India is ‘Skill India’. The main objective of the Skill India programme is to provide adequate training in market-relevant skills to over 40 crore youth by 2022.
General education must go hand in hand with professional education. General education must be compulsory until the tenth year, from which students should receive specialized professional training according to their interests, tastes and abilities.
Each system has its strengths and weaknesses, but it’s important for those deciding on where to go to understand how these two types of education relate to each other and how they affect students and future careers.