Guilds sprang up during the Middle Ages, continuing into the era of the Industrial Revolution. Traders Guilds, Merchants guilds were founded with one thought in mind. Young workers, or apprentices, were placed under the tutelage of experienced merchants, artisans, glass blowers, sculptors, artists, and bakers, for the chief purpose of learning the skills of their chosen trade. This is known as vocational training, which prepares one for their specific occupation. Vocational training is highly streamlined and caters to strictly a single trade such as playing the sitar. The student picks up the technical skills necessary for that line of work. Skill-based learning is also called ‘career training’ since it is imperative to obtain hands-on experience concerning one’s selected trade in life. It comprises short courses that may range from six to twelve months or, at times, around twelve or sixteen weeks. Most of the primary schools in Hyderabad teach by example in this regard.
Why is Skill-Based Education gaining importance so rapidly?
The pandemic has shown us exactly what poor India’s employment rate has turned into. This precise lack of employment has birthed the concept of skill-based education and helps provide students with a versatile arsenal to improve the economic conditions of our nation. Skill-based education has certain plus points, which are listed below:
- No restrictions: Advancement of education does not depend on grades and marks, it is this vocational training which adds in fine tuning the student’s skills. A student need not worry about their educational background and can proceed forward with the additional bonus of learning something that may very well carve their future.
- Gaining valuable experience: Real-life skills are soaked up by students instead of theory-based lectures on scientific hypotheses. The usual pattern of education overlooks these hands-on, practical projects required for grooming a student for non-academic fields..
- Highly effective: With a clear goal in mind, students increase their focus. A solid pedestal is built upon various kinds of culture, ethics and developmental methods, enriching the lives of students before they step out into the cutthroat industries.
Life-Skills and the significance of acquiring them at an early age
These skills are vital for effectively handling any situation in life and creating a better living standard on an individual level. Schools ought to focus on vocational training for:
- Developing collaborative skills
- Honing analytical and critical thought processes
- Adapting to new environments
- Learning how to take initiatives
- Improving communication skills
- Operating according to given data
- Getting influenced by successful entrepreneurs.
Examples of Skill-based Education
Some primary schools in Hyderabad and Uppal make sure that their pattern of education tapers towards certain skills that are occupation-specific. Of course, primary school children do not give much thought to jobs in the far-flung future, but because their parents and teachers are highly concerned, they have the privilege of being admitted to such institutions. Here are some examples of skill-based education:
- Working on various assignments simultaneously
- Effectively setting time aside for each task
- Designing strategies for every situation
- Delving into information and sorting them accordingly
- Writing down a schedule that neatly helps in managing hours
- Regulating events
- Mastery over technology
- Developing skills of debate
- Being able to formulate solid and logical arguments
- Enabling public speaking skills
- Being capable of drawing inferences
- Being good at innovation
- Being able to write well
- Paying minute attention towards detailing
- Being able to take decisions swiftly
- Being able to allocate and distribute tasks
- Being a good team-player
- Learning the life skills and using them in their daily course
Skill-based Education in Hyderabad
According to a citation by NDTV on July 2020, GMR Varalakshmi Foundation had taken the initiative to open up a world of possibilities in the form of online vocational training certificates and diploma courses for drop-outs and students with year-gaps to aid them in obtaining jobs suitable for themselves despite the difficult pandemic situation. Their sessions included:
- Spoken English
- Technician training
- Training in welding
- Excavation training
- Automobile repairing
- Refrigerator and other home appliance repairing
- House wiring
- Basic computation
- Tailoring and sewing
Some of the best schools in Tarnaka as well as primary schools in Hyderabad and Uppal have aligned themselves to these steps in light of the Covid-19 situation and poor rate of employment.
Skill-based education in pre-school
In pre-schools in Hyderabad, teachers work on developing cognitive thinking in children. The counterpart to this is similarly carried out in the very best schools in Taranaka. Children take part in activities that require them to combine their knowledge of the subject matters taught. For example, if they are asked to build a sandcastle, they need to think about how to solidify the sand and think of how a castle looks like, something resembling a drawing in their books.
Conclusion
The Telangana region of India is reverting to the apprenticeship system precisely because of the pandemic. However, this kind of practice is quickly spreading to other states and metropolitan cities. Soon, it will encompass all of India. Thinking this way, let us hope that our country’s employment rate increases by leaps and bounds.
Also read: Guide to Choose Best School
