Entrepreneurship avenues through Technical & Vocational Education in Rural India : A Study of Marathwada region of Maharashtra state

Entrepreneurship avenues through Technical & Vocational Education in Rural India : A Study of Marathwada region of Maharashtra state

Entrepreneurship avenues through Technical & Vocational Education in Rural India : A Study of Marathwada region of Maharashtra state.

Dr. Nishikant C Dhande

Astt. Professor School of Commerce & Management Science

SRTM University, Nanded.

Abstract:

The 20th century has contributed a lot for the betterment of the mankind in many ways. In spite this, the 21st century has posed numerous challenges before the society such as-

– inclusive growth, – social justice,- socio economic disparity, – the economic divide, – the digital divide – gender disparity etc are the challenges yet to be mate.

Considering the power within the vocational education as a tool to eradicate the poverty and bridge the gap between the Have s and Have Not s, it is interesting to have a look at development of Entrepreneurship through vocational education in Marathwada beyond the traditional way.

The development of Entrepreneurship through vocational education has the capacity to empower the socially and economically backward part of the society by providing them the technical knowledge, skill, confidence through the education & training. Thus it can be used as a effective tool for bringing up social change, social justice and up-liftment of socio-economic status of the region. Finally as a summary it is pointed out that the vocational education in the new millennium i.e. 21st century needs more relevance to the life and approach towards survival skills development, more focus on human development so as to give social justice through socio-economic balance especially in rural parts of India.

Key words: Entrepreneurship, Vocational education, Socio-economic justice,

self employment,

Opportunities for development of Entrepreneurship through Vocational Education in Rural India : A Study of Marathwada region of Maharashtra State.

Dr. Nishikant C Dhande

Astt. Professor School of Commerce & Management Science

SRTM University, Nanded.

1. The 20th century has contributed a lot for the betterment of the mankind in many ways. The century is termed as the century of inventions and innovations that made changes the entire way of livings in all walks of life. The main achievement in the century is the development in the area of science and technology. In spite of all such advantages, the 21st century has posed numerous challenges before the society such as-

   • inclusive growth,

   • social justice,

   • socio economic disparity,

   • the economic divide,

   • the digital divide

   • gender disparity etc

     are the challenges yet to be mate.

     In the light of balanced development from the Socio-Economic point of view, it is worth to identify the potential of vocational education. .

2. The 20th century and the globalization has offered many features which are useful for the society to choose the tools of economic balance that are like

   Wide spread of the democracy, social changes & scientific approach in all areas of life.

   Change in values, thoughts and principles due to Education and Training,. Heavy industrialization & the increased pace of development.

   Restrictions on Big industries because of pollution & health related problems. Greater competitions & yet higher living costs causes survival problems.

   Commercialization of education ( Alphabet industry).

   Paradigm shift from micro to nano approach.

   Developmental patter from mini to MEGA business.

   Development of Service industry & Quality consciousness. Globalization of thoughts, habits, work culture and business.

   On the backdrop of the same factors there are ample opportunities for achieving the economical balance in the society by providing vocational education to the people so as to empower them for the self employment as well as wage employment by gearing up the Entrepreneurship development in all parts of the country[1].

3. Marathwada is a economically backward part of the Maharashtra State of India, it comprises of 8 districts with in all 76 Talukas. The Taluka further has small villages,

   Vastis & Wadis. Considering entrepreneurship is the key in the rapid development of the society, various self employment and entrepreneurship development oriented courses are made available in the region by the government. The description of the availability of the self employment oriented courses in various parts is tabulated in Table 1.1

   S.N.	DIST	Number of Talukas	Talukas having Vocational Courses	Talukas without Vocational Courses
   1	Aurangabad	9	8	1
   2	Jalna	8	2	6
   3	Parbhani	9	7	2
   4	Hingoli	5	2	3
   5	Nanded	16	9	7
   6	Latur	10	8	2
   7	Osmanabad	8	7	1
   8	Beed	11	7	4
   9	Total	76	50	26

   ( Ref: List of Aided MCVC Regional Office Aurangabad)

   Considering many such factors, the region of marathwada has provided avenues for entrepreneurship development through vocational education and training, the details of the comparison are shown in the table 1.2

   Region	Aided Institutes	Intake Capacity	Non Aided Institutes	Intake Capacity	Total Capacity
   Maharashtra	958	59960	95	4480	64440
   Marathwada	155	9200	61	3360	12560

   (Ref: www.dvet.gov.in Position of 2003 Maharashtra, 2006 Marathwada)

   To cater to the needs of entrepreneurship development the total entrepreneurship education has divided in to six groups such as Engineering & Technology, Commerce Group, Agriculture Group, Fisheries Group, Paramedical Group and Home Science Group. All these groups are aimed at different sectors of self employment and entrepreneurship avenues. The details of the availability is as shown in table 1.3

   Sr.	Group	Courses	Institutes	Intake Capacity
   1	Engineering & Technology	06	194	3880
   2	Commerce Group	06	143	2800
   3	Agriculture Group	08	77	1440
   4	Fisheries Group	02 /td>	04	80
   5	Paramedical Group	03	30	600
   6	Home Science Group	05	20	400
   7	Total	30	468	9200

   ( Source : List of Colleges & Courses, Regional office Aurangabad)

   Considering the power within the vocational education as a tool to eradicate the poverty through entrepreneurship development and bridge the gap of the economic divide, it is essential to exploit the opportunity of vocational education in Marathwada beyond the traditional and casual approach in education. The vocational education has the capacity to empower the socially and economically backward part of the society by providing them the technical knowledge, skill, confidence that is most essentially required for the entrepreneurship guts. Thus it can be used as a effective tool for bringing up social change, social justice and upliftment of socio-economic status of the

   region[2].

4. 1. According to table 1.1 only 50 talukas out of 76 have granted MCVC leaving

   2. Jalna and Nanded districts has more number of talukas where aided MCVC are not made available.

   3. Out of 155 granted MCVC as displayed in table 1.2, the distribution among urban, taluka and village is almost even, though there disparity in job opportunities available in those regions.

   4. Among the districts of Marathwada, Latur district fetches more number of aided MCVC (45 colleges), where Jalna and Hingoli has less number.

   5. The Beed district has more number of aided MCVC than Aurangabad district.

   6. Table 1.3 indicates that villages i.e. the rural part of Marathwada has more non grant MCVC colleges than the taluka and district places.

   7. There are in all 30 different self employment oriented courses available through 6 different groups which is a great opportunity for socio-economic balance through self & wage employment.

   8. It is clear that out of 59960 students learning through aided MCVC in Maharashtra as a whole, only 9200 belongs to Marathwada region. That means the share of availability goes to be around 15% of capacity. On the contrary, in case of the non aided courses 3360 students out of 4480 from Marathwada region. The percentage of non grant MCVC learners is about 75% in socio economically backward region of Marathwada.

   9. From the total 64440 MCVC goers of Maharashtra state 13020 are from Marathwada region i.e 20% learners are from Marathwada. And at the same time a major part of them belongs to non grant education.

   10. Table shows 3880 students are taking engineering and technology education through 194 batches where in Electronics and MREDA courses are dominated with 57 & 44 batches being run. In contras the Mechanical Technology shares only 180 students through only 9 batches. In fact considering the type of industrialization in Marathwada, Mechanical Technology has greater scope and opportunities, but the infrastructure and material cost is very high. Thus colleges find it difficult to manage these courses on the criteria of economic viability. Thus insufficient funding for vocational education is the hurdle in the socio-economic developmental efforts.

   11. Near about 2500 students participate in the learning of electrical and electronic branch where only 400 students are being trained for Building Maintenance course in spite of much scope for employment.

   12. From the commerce group, Accounting and Auditing course learners are maximum i.e. 960 from 48 batches followed by Marketing & salesman ship 740 Purchasing & Storekeeping 660. The courses such as Office Management and Insurance are opted by 140 and 100 students in Marathwada.

   13. From the agriculture group, only 1440 students are taking vocational education through 77 aided batches. The courses of Crop Science and Horticulture are popular next. Thus agriculture is neglected in vocational also.

   14. No education is available in Marathwada for the courses of Plant protection, Sericulture and Agricultural Chemicals from the approved list.

   15. Though Marathwada has major and minor irrigation projects and irrigation ponds, it appears that there is scope for fisheries business, but at the same time, since Marathwada is draught prone, many of the minor and small tanks goes dry in the summer days. These causes are reflected in the non popularity of the fisheries courses in Marathwada. There are only 4 batches of fish production course catering to 80 students. And no course is being chosen by any college regarding the Fish Processing vocation.

   16. In the Paramedical group of MCVC courses, total 600 students are provided education through 30 batches. Among them the course of Medical Lab technician is popular. Only 4 batches are being trained for Ophthalmic Technician and X Ray Technician courses. The courses in spite of their valid contents are not self employable because of the restriction put by the government for independent practice of MCVC students. These students can only assist the MD educated doctors of the same field. Thus the fate of the Paramedical students hangs in balance.

   17. Finally from the group of Home Science, only 400 students are educated through 20 batches of 5 different courses among them the Crèche & Preschool management are 50%. No course is available for the Institutional House keeping vocation.

5. 1. Like the development of the country is planned as five year plan break up similar break up plan for academic and educational development is needed to be worked out successively especially keeping an eye on the entrepreneurship development of the regions through vocational education.

   2. There should be long term plan and short term plan for implementation of educational schemes at Top, Middle, Bottom level of management in view to bridge the socio economic gap through entrepreneurship development.

   3. The management of vocational education should be modernized with professional techniques of management so as to benefit the different social class through the improved performance of the system.

   4. The expenditure made by the government on education should be treated as investment in socio economic development of the region.

6. In addition to the suggestions and the opinions expressed by many, about the general education, here are the suggestions regarding maintenance of the status of the MCVC education in Marathwada to a competitive level.

   1. Many parts of Marathwada are away from the aided vocational education. Therefore the economically backward people from these areas should be given facility to provide the appropriate need based education.

   2. The development of vocational in Marathwada is not uniform, hence care should be taken to distribute the benefits equally among the desirous from all parts of society.

   5. A good deal of amount should be made available for the repair and maintenance of the existing infrastructure as well as modernization.

   6. Since the majority vocational students are from the economically backward class who needs to work part time, therefore the course time table and the structure should be made modular & suitable to cater to their needs.

Vocational education is a powerful tool to eradicate the problem of unemployment and empowerment of economically backward people through self employment. The vocational education should be given due weightage for bringing up the socio economic balance in the society. To bring the principle of equality in practice serious commitments should be made to provide vocational education with-

More investment in infrastructure.

<> More advanced technological foundation.

More participation of society in the process of education.

More awareness about knowledge at every stage of functioning. More freedom and flexibility in governance.

More skilled and knowledgeable teachers.

More professionalism in management practices. More short term plans along with long term plans.

More relevance to the life and approach towards survival skills development. And finally

More focus on human development so as to give social justice through socio- economic balance.

References:

1. Research report on Status of vocational education in Marathwada by Dr. N.C.Dhande for SRT institute for Socio-Economic Change.

2. Official Data documents of the Dy. Director Vocational Education Marathwada Region

3. Official web site of director Vocational Education M.S. www.dvet.org

4. Interviews of Students, Parents, Teachers and the Management people

5. Collection of opinions reflected through the news paper columns