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Shivaji University likely to start braille library
TNN | Jan 16, 2015, 03.35 AM IST
KOLHAPUR: Shivaji University's vice-chancellor N J Pawar on Tuesday said the university is thinking of starting a braille library for visually impaired students.
He said that while the members of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) peer team who came calling in September last year had found the university to be doing well in research, they had suggested that it set up a well-equipped braille library for visually impaired students on the campus and those from affiliated colleges.
Pawar was speaking at the function held to inaugurate the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) workshop at the university library.
"We have taken the recommendation quite seriously and are looking at ways to implement it. The library will be available for visually impaired students from SUK's 281 affiliated colleges across Sangli, Satara and Kolhapur district," Pawar said.
He added, "Study resources are changing over time. We need to accept and adapt to the changes. The visually impaired students, too, need to actively participate in the new initiatives."
Librarian Namita Khot said the university has set up a study centre this year for visually impaired students. The students are not charged any fee for using the facility.
The ICT workshop, in the meantime, was held to teach visually impaired students the basics of technology. A faculty member in the English language department, Manohar Waswani, also told the students about the career options they had.
In a new light Vocational education is
often looked upon as the poor cousin of academic education. But reality
says otherwise. It is in fact, essential for the overall development of a
student, says Sanjay Shivnani. The highly acclaimed,
modern management thinker and celebrated author Stephen Covey professes
that one must ‘begin with the end in mind’.
I think this has no
better applicability than in the purpose of education. What is the
purpose of education after all? Is it just to gain knowledge for the
sake of it or is it to gain a set of skills and competencies that can
help one advance in life, pursue a career of choice and earn a decent livelihood?
The
debate over vocational versus academic education has been raging across
the world and mind you, this is not restricted to under-developed
economies.
A recent higher education event in the USA concluded
with wide- scale agreement amongst academia, business and government
that students graduating from the US education system are not fit for
the world of work.
So, the debate is no more a debate; it is now
a challenge. How do we vocationalise mainstream education? Learned
professors and teachers call it as the ‘hands-on’ education versus
‘minds-on’ education.
The first issue to address probably, is the
positioning of vocational education; whether it is in the developed
countries like UK, USA or Sweden or in developing nations like India,
vocational education is usually considered as the poor cousin of
academic education. It is for those who did not make it; these are
children of a lesser God.
Degraded field There are others who
feel that vocational education is like a ‘bronze’ medal while academic
education is the ‘gold’ which students should be vying for. One way to
overcome this is to establish the cause and effect linkages of
vocational education with employment.
Now, in the second decade
of the 21st century, with enormous convergence happening in the world of
education, there is greater need to shed this baggage of the past and look at vocational education in a new light. Hands-on learning is becoming more accepted currently.
The
new generation of tech-savvy young adults are ready to learn new skills
and step into new professions that demand practical skills and rely
more on hands-on experience.
It seems like there is an ‘Arab
Spring’ happening in education, with the young job-seekers demanding
better vocational education which can directly lead them to jobs.
According
to OECD Reports and Reviews on Vocational Education and Training,
different countries have explored ways and means of adding value to vocational education.
Sweden, for example, has forged partnership between training providers and employers.
This provides security and stability to the young trainees who get the
benefit of one year or two year-long internship or partnership with employers.
Sweden, of course, is a highly developed economy with a smaller
population but countries like Tunisia, in North Africa, have been fairly
successful in developing this linkage with industry majors.
Quite
clearly, it shows that where there is stakeholder will, solutions are
bound to emerge. In China, for example, there is greater emphasis on
‘institutional leadership’, with teachers (or the vocational educators)
themselves getting interned with industry leaders.
What do the numbers say? In India, too, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has been actively engaged in promoting vocational education and skill development at different levels.
In its Annual Report of 2012-13, it reveals that 23.02 lakh students
have enrolled for post-school diploma or PG diploma courses, while
30.14 lakh students enrolled in AICTE-approved technical programmes.
These
figures can be contrasted with the 203.27 lakh students who enrolled in
different universities and colleges for the academic education.
Setting up of new polytechnics and strengthening existing polytechnics
has been on the governmental agenda for long. In over 287 districts of
the country, State and Union Territory governments have set up
polytechnics to provide stepping stones for the young adults find
gainful employment.
These are worthy developments happening in our country, but we still have a long way to go. Vocational education needs healthy public-private partnership which can add quality and value at every stage of the syllabi roll-out.
Moreover, young students also need a healthy dose of confidence and self-esteem as they step out into a more demanding labour market.
State and national board curriculum must be modified to formally account for vocational subjects that inculcate ‘doing’ in addition to ‘knowing’.
There
are several national schemes for apprenticeship and training already in
existence which can be revisited and overhauled in the light of
best-practices being adopted in developed and developing countries.
These
can prove to be game changers as India strives to become a more
industrialised economy, with a greater thrust on vocational education
and training.