The aim is to develop a credible and aspirational national system that is quality assured and internationally compatible.
For years now, the higher-education sector has been regulated by the Government through bodies, such as the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), whereas skill education has largely remained unregulated.
The Government plans to reverse this now. While it is working towards deregulating the higher-education sector, it plans to regulate the skill- education sector to ensure quality control and growth.
This will also increase acceptance in the mainstream education and training ecosystem.
Till date, vocational education, which comes under the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), has been allowed to be for-profit unlike the mainstream education sector. Now the Government wants to put a check on the same. The Government plans to conduct exams, to assess the efficacy of skill schools and sector skill councils (SSCs).
The skill-education sector will include the ITIs, skill programmes run under the NSDC as well as the industry collaborations and certifications system run by the SSCs.
The Government feels that there is an immediate need for quality control of the skill-development landscape.
It wants to develop a credible, sound, aspirational, national system that is quality assured and internationally compatible with the close involvement of the industry.
The regulator will also work towards making vocational education a part of mainstream education, and give ITI courses equivalence with classes 10 and 12 in the formal education system.