Access, Retention and Vocational Education

Access, Retention & Vocational Education Branch is looking after overall activities related to implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 & Vocational Education Program.

It mainly focuses on following activities:

Structure (State/District/Block level)

Functions

• Administration and Compliance for Access, Retention & Vocational Education Initiatives
• Coordination and monitoring
• IEC and Capacity building
• Convergence with concerned departments
• Documentation and data management

Vocational Education

Gujarat is implementing the scheme of Vocationalisation of School Education under the umbrella of ‘Samagra Shiksha - an integrated scheme for school education’, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. The scheme seeks to integrate vocational education with general academic education with an aim to prepare educated, employable and competitive human resource for various sectors of the economy and the global market. The scheme covers Government and aided schools Under this scheme Samagra Shiksha, Gujarat is providing exposure to vocational education to students of Classes 9th to 12th with an aim to provide opportunities to the students to orient themselves with the skills required for the various occupations in a sector.

Samagra Shiksha, Gujarat is implementing Vocational Education Programme for students of Standard 9th to 12th Studying in Govt. Secondary & Senior Secondary School of the state. Initially the program started in the year 2017 in 20 approved government higher secondary schools. In the Academic year 2019-20 it has been expanded to cover 102 more schools thus taking the coverage to 122 schools. It is proposed to start Vocational education to 138 new schools in the State. This will take the reach of Vocational Education programme to 260 Schools.

Under Vocational Education component of ‘Samagra Shiksha’, NSQF compliant vocational courses are taught to the students from class 9th to 12th.

Vocational Education is presently provided in following Trades:

• Healthcare
• Beauty & Wellness
• Retail
• Travel & Tourism
• Automotive
• Agriculture
• Apparel Made-Ups Home Furnishing
• Electronics and Hardware

Under the scheme, Vocational Courses based on the Job roles which have been approved by National Skill Qualification Committee (NSQC) are offered in the schools.

Pandit Sunderlal Sharma Central Institute of Vocational Education (PSSCIVE), a constituent Unit of NCERT is the Nodal Agency for Curriculum/Courseware Development. Curriculum and Courseware are developed for NSQF Compliant Job roles in consultation with the Sector Skills Councils (SSCs), the representative bodies of industry.

Under the program, there is a provision for arranging hands on training, field visits, on the job training for students in industrial set up and guest lectures from industry. Arrangements are also being made for providing apprenticeship training to the students passing out with vocational subjects.

The State Board conducts external competency-based assessment of skills of the students in collaboration with the concerned Sector Skill Council wherein the practical assessment of vocational subject is being carried out by Sector Skill Council. The SSCs depute certified assessors to the state to carry out the assessment. A joint certificate by the school board and the concerned Sector Skill Council is issued to the successful candidates.