Four new vocational courses

To boost vocational education and to make it more scientific and market oriented, the Central Board of Secondary Education is going to launch four new vocational subjects from 2012. The subjects to be taught from class XI onwards are logistics management, retail management, paramedic and design and will be modular and credit based. The certificate awarded will also specify the specific skill sets the students acquire.

According to CBSE, the new courses to be offered will be based on number of hours and divided over specific modules with each module carrying specific credits. Each module will offer a specific skill set so that even if out of seven modules a student completes four, he/she will have credits for those modules and would have acquired certain skill sets.The idea is to make it scientific. The number of hours for the vocational courses can be credited which would help in case a student wants to shift to another course, said CBSE chairman, Vineet Joshi.Moreover, the new courses will be based on the standards set by the National Skill Development Corporation which is now working on national occupational standards in various areas, which means it is specifying jobs and the necessary corresponding skill sets required, Joshi said.

The credits will also help these students if they go for higher studies to institutions where credit system is accepted and equivalent credits can be measured, said Joshi.Meanwhile, according to sources from ministry for human resource development, CBSE will also launch a vocational course in IT from class IX as a pilot project in Haryana from 2012.