Socio-economic impact of VET: Are students interested in joining vocational education and training in India – in the context of skilling mission in India

Abstract

In this work – we try to understand the social desirability of vocational education and training (henceforth VET) in India. In general, it is observed that choice of VET often is a ‘second choice’ and also there is a global decline in the participation in VET. India always has a very low participation in formal VET. There is a recent attempt to enhance participation in formal VET through the expansion of VET institutions. Given the global perception and trend around VET, it is crucial to understand whether the mission of skilling in India is going to be successful. The first obstacle among many obstacles towards the success of this mission could be lack of social desirability around VET. This work is an attempt to understand whether the lack of social desirability is the reason of low participation in formal VET in India. If there is a social undesirability attached with VET in India – success of the skilling mission would be in question. © Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden 2016.