ONE WEEK TRAINING PROGRAM

A one week training program on “Strategic Management of NSQF, Community Colleges and Skill Development Scheme” through ICT was organized at Dronacharya Group of Institutions, Greater Noida from June 23rd – 27th  , 2014.

 The inaugural address was delivered by Dr. M .P. Poonia, Director, NITTTR Chandigarh. In his address, he outlined the basic foundation principles of the NSQF as laid down by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India vide a Gazette notification in December 2013. He initiated the workshop with a thought provoking session on the Art of Listening and enhancing the English Communication Skills of the Teachers. He compared the communication growth of China at 14% to India’s meagre 4% and maintained that communication and knowledge are interlinked with the audience at the focal point of the address and should be analyzed before and during delivery of the presentation for the same to be effective. He discussed the importance of Listening to understand the active and passive components of the communication.

Prof. Y. K. Anand, the second speaker of the day delivered a session on the ’Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) System and its calibration’. He projected the incremental requirement of professional manpower certified by the industry through NSQF over the next decade. He maintained that this certified manpower has greater chances of employability all over the world. During his address, Prof. Anand envisioned the growth of India to be a developed nation by 2020 led by significant role of technology. To achieve the cherished goals, technical education needs a capacity expansion with a provision of various lateral entry points.  He also stressed upon the sensitization of the teachers with the curriculum, current progress and changes needed.

In the post lunch technical session, Dr. Y. N. Rai discussed the role of “Community Polytechnics in the Promotion of Academic Excellence”. He stressed on the need to create opportunities for all to acquire skills throughout life and especially for youth, women and disadvantaged groups. He also stated that a strong commitment from the stakeholders to own skill development initiative is a key factor for development of a quality skilled workforce.

24th June, 2014

The first talk of the day was delivered by Prof. Singla, who deliberated upon the status of ‘National Vocational Education Qualification specific to Rural Punjab’. He noted that the number of farmers has reduced by 12 percent and the trend is presented countrywide. His concern specially included the low level of productivity and employment, in addition to negligible wages, child labor being paid to almost 60 percent rural population of India. He stressed on the need for developing a multi-collar workforce comprised of knowledge workers. He recommended vocational training delivery in local language, spread across full day, half day and weekend programs to help in placement.

Dr. Poonia conducted the second  session of the day and explained the role of NITTTR in Education and Training. He discussed the skill development challenges in context of the manpower trends in India and stated that the Govt. of India is eyeing the matter closely, with a national Skill Development Policy offering financial support. He discussed the need of a Public Private Partnership model and convergence of skill development.

Dr. Poonia also explained that the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) organizes qualifications according to a series of levels of knowledge, skills and aptitude. These levels are defined in the terms of learning outcomes which the learner must possess regardless of the acquisition source which may be formal, non-formal or informal learning. He emphasized that the NSQF is a Quality Assurance Framework.

Just after the address by Dr. Poonia, Prof. Anand from NITTTR discussed the goals of education and the design of curriculum including technical, vocational education and training. He emphasized that the nation’s prosperity is associated closely with the development of Human Resources and Education Delivery.

25th June, 2014

The first talk of the Third day was delivered by Ms. Meghali Prabhakar, Consultant Standards and QA, NSDC on the “Sector Skill Council”. She guided the audience about the basic guidelines for the formation of the sector skill council and Identification of Skill being the focus area. She discussed prioritizing of the sectors with National Occupational Standards Skills and health safety and environment with professional skill development by analytical thinking.

Prof. Dhameeja from NITTTR delivered the second session of the day and discussed “Industry and Community Colleges” with Industry Institute Partnership. He discussed the ever increasing gap in understanding between the Industry and Academia and the ways to bridge the gap through joint curriculum design and reviews and industrial training of teachers and technical staff along with the students. He took examples from the U.S. community colleges which are accessible, affordable and push merits through tuition fee waivers.

The post lunch session was delivered by Dr. Poonam Tayal with a discussion on training modules in various ministries of Govt. of India. She discussed the training efforts being undertaken by the following:

• Ministry of textiles
• Ministry of Urban development and Poverty alleviation
• Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

She also emphasized the role of established NGOs who have relevant experience in the development of need based skills.

26th June, 2014

The first speaker of the fourth day was Mr. G.S Babla. He spoke about “Teaching Learning skills and Assessment System” and discussed Programme Educational Objectives (PEO)and Programme Outcomes (Pos).

Dr. B.S Ghumaan explained the role of “National Skills Qualification Framework“ (NSQF) in the second session . He discussed the skill development, Community College Introduction, Concept and Mundate, Community Colleges in North America. He explained that teaching pedagogy will comprise traditional lecture method with use of information communication technology and hands on experience through collaboration with industry.

The post lunch session lecture was conducted by Prof. Acharya with a discussion related to Intellectual dishonesty. The next speaker of the session was Mr. Goyal who discussed the role of “Education to Employability”. In his opinion the motto of technical education should be to link education with employability. And the vision should be to make education relevant in perception of stake-holders and to prepare adolescent for adult life. He professed that higher education leads the world of work. The goals of education should be to introduce successfully vocational courses from class ninth to twelfth. Students should be encouraged to improve employability skills from these courses. Quality teachers should be employed to coach these students. He focused on Soft Skills, Students Expectation- About world of work and to commute home to work place. He stressed upon the benefits of technology and emphasized upon e-learning curriculum as following:

Students -     Industry driven training with skills and knowledge.
School-        Training with industry standard.
Industry-     Availability of skills / job ready candidates.

27th June, 2014

Mr. Sood, the first speaker deliberated upon the topic ICT and EMIS in Planning and Management. Mr. Sood discussed Indian Education System also. He mentioned the center level training system in his lecture. At the end of his lecture he showed the audience a video clipping on shoe making in South Africa. The name of the video was learning and working.

In the Pre- Lunch session Mr. Saini enlightened the audience with his lecture on “Scheme of Study under Community College”.

The next speaker was Y.K Anand. His topic centered around Implementation of Skills. According to him Curriculum should be designed in such a way that it could be implemented effectively. To implement the schemes various resources are required like human resources, building infrastructure etc. The Institution must have some planning for six months, one year, and two years. There should be committees formed for supervision and consultation. The committees should select their industry partners. They should go for publicity and marketing also as it is in vogue in foreign countries like Hongkong, US, Germany, Japan, Canada, and China publicity and marketing could be done on radio and television. Society should empathise and encourage the students studying in community colleges. The trainers should also take care of the students as they  have different learning styles.

The session came to a close with the Vote of Thanks by Dr. Saini. The participating colleges, then gave their feedbacks regarding the workshop. The workshop came to a close with a valedictory session.