Opinion The first degree

an education system that “trains a workforce that is skilled,adaptable,creative and equipped to compete in the marketplace”. The aim is also to “integrate skill development in the higher education system with flexible formats… reflected in the National Vocational Educational Qualification Framework (NVEQF) for standardisation and [the National Occupational Standards (NOS)”.

Community colleges will provide vertical mobility — certificate,diploma,advanced diploma/associate degree and a degree providing multiple exit points with a particular standard of training prescribed by the NVEQF. Mobility between general and vocational education could be facilitated through transfer of credits. This has the potential to be a long overdue,pathbreaking approach to democratising higher education in the country.

The implementation,however,needs more clarity. As a person who has been involved in promoting community colleges since 1996,leading to the establishment of more than 300 community colleges through private and non-governmental initiatives,I have the following observations to share with the educationists,educational agencies and the general public.

First,there are too many players getting in the fray. The Skills Development Corporation (SDO),sectoral councils,the HRD ministry,state governments,AICTE,UGC,etc are all involved in vocational training. It is better to have a single agency that promotes and supervises the scheme. The same agency should give national recognition to community colleges and clarify the levels in the NVEQF they correspond with.

Second,community colleges should be treated as separate entities,like in the United States,since that is the model quoted in recent government documents. It should not be mixed with existing universities or arts and science colleges and polytechnics. That would be like putting new wine in an old bottle. The formal system is already struggling to maintain excellence and relevance in providing skills that create employable graduates. How could these institutes understand the aspirations and levels of competence to be obtained by those pushed out of the formal system?

Third,if the community college system has to achieve its objective,it has to define the target group (as defined in the US) as those unable to enter the mainstream on account of social,educational and economic disadvantages. We need to aim for the 400 million Indians who earn less than $1.5 a day,especially the urban,rural and tribal poor,women and other marginalised sections of society.

The community college system should not fall into the hands of people who will make education and training commercial and unaffordable for the poorer sections of society,since they will have a social mission for empowerment,capacity building,skills development leading to gainful employment and a decent livelihood. Service-minded agencies and organisations should be given top priority and industries with a sense of corporate social responsibility should be given preference. The funding pattern suggested — 90 per cent by the Central government and 10 per cent by the state government — is also unclear. How sustainable is this scheme? It should not die like the other government schemes.

There is an additional problem. Vocational education is looked down upon as inferior. What are the measures the government will take to enlighten the public at large? Otherwise,there will likely not be many takers for community college.

The collaboration between the HRD ministry and the ministries of labour and employment,and social justice and empowerment,should be clearly defined. Since we are contemplating multiple exits with various levels of training,there should be opportunities for government jobs,jobs at private companies and self employment. Most important,the training must meet the requirements of the job market in terms of knowledge,skills and attitude. The person has to be made confident before she becomes skilled. Soft skills are of utmost importance to most employers,both national and international.

If we are aiming to bring into the mainstream the pushouts and the dropouts,we need to provide reasonable training costs. The community college scheme has to be implemented with caution,constant review and monitoring. We need to experiment and evaluate constantly,and incorporate the lessons learnt.

The writer is director,Indian Centre for Research and Development of Community Education,Chennai

express@expressindia.com