Skill certificates to facilitate college entry | Economic Times

The ministries of education and skill development - now under one minister - are holding talks to enable students enrolled into vocational courses to get school-level certificates and earn 'credits', scores that can help them get entry into mainstream colleges and universities and earn a degree.Alongside, efforts are on to identify new vocational courses for various classes and also get stronger recognition for students, ET has learnt.A series of steps are being initiated across school and higher education organisations to get the ball rolling.ET has learnt that Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has got the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) talking to the National Council of Vocational Education and Training (NCVET) to mutually recognise vocational courses and confer certificates on students.First, a fresh memorandum of understanding will be inked between NIOS and the Directorate General of Training to facilitate equivalence for those at Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs).So far, a student earned three papers, credits for a two-year ITI course after class 8 or class 10 and had to appear for two online papers - in a language and an academic course each - to get a class 10 or 12 certificate of equivalence from the NIOS.ET learns that plans have now been finalised to have a two-year ITI course fetch 4 credits instead, so that such a student will have to only appear for one language course from NIOS to get a class 10 or 12 certificate.86669282The idea was to bring in more flexibility and easier mainstreaming for students opting for vocational courses at ITIs. Similarly, discussions have started between the NCVET - the vocational education regulator - and the University Grants Commission (UGC), which regulates higher education, to find ways to transfer and use school-level vocational course scores and credits to transition into the college system.The recently launched Academic Board of Credit will coordinate with NCVET for effecting the same and a meeting is lined up this week to structure the same.The other area of engagement is at school board level. The NCVET has begun engaging with CBSE for aligning vocational education in schools with the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) and also to facilitate the transition of students in vocational courses to general education, as also recommended in the new National Education Policy, 2020.