Role of ICT in Enhancing Scale, Quality, and Reach of TVET in India

Abstract

India’s skill requirement calls for millions of individuals to be formally trained and qualified for employment. What underlies an acknowledged dearth of skilled labor, impeding India from reaching its potential, are issues of quality, standardization, and accessibility to skill development, especially to and within existing vocational training programs. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reiterated the urgent need for improved inclusion in skill development among socially and economically vulnerable groups to strengthen the prospect of decent employment and income generation, as indicated in the sub-goal of SDG 4 on quality education. Skill development practitioners and academicians recognize information communication and technology (ICT) as a critical component in addressing issues of inclusivity, quality, and standardized skill development. Discussion of ICT-integrated TVET primarily takes place in the context of formal training; however, a significant portion of skill development in India takes place along the lifelong learning continuum, outside of the formal context. This chapter, therefore, takes a wider perspective to review how ICT is reforming TVET delivery practices in India across formal, nonformal, and open and distance learning settings.