From Checkpoints to Highways: Re-Imagining Skills Education in Schools

Schools today primarily prepare students for further education and not for the world of work. Vocational education is restricted to a few disciplines and schools, and even where it is available - it receives limited time and emphasis. There is a need to re-imagine this status quo – as every year, lakhs of young people will enter the workforce and many of them will need to work during or immediately after secondary school. To build an education system that works for these students, more time needs to be spent on high demand specialized skills, cross-cutting employability aspects, and industry exposure. This needs to happen while keeping pathways to career progression and further education open – hence the need for highways that allow for movement at key stages, rather than checkpoints that hold our youth back.