Thiruvananthapuram: The state curriculum committee has decided to include skill development in the curriculum from next year onwards. The committee has entrusted the SCERT with the draft preparation for this. The national-level skill development programme will be included in the school syllabus from Class 1 to X. Earlier, only the VHSE curriculum had the skill development component. The Central government had said that states should implement the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF).
This was decided at a meeting of the curriculum committee held recently under the chairmanship of education minister C. Raveendranath. NSQF was a competency-based framework that organised all qualifications according to a series of levels of knowledge, skills and aptitude. These levels, graded from one to ten, are defined in terms of learning outcomes which the learners must possess regardless of whether they are obtained through formal, non-formal or informal learning.
The NSQF would also help shift the emphasis to outcome-based learning — both in the general and vocational space. Today, there is lack of uniformity in the outcomes associated with different qualifications across institutions, each with its own duration, curriculum, entry requirements as well as title. As per NSQF framework, these programmes will have to be initiated through collaboration with various private entities.
Courses on topics, including retail, health care, information technology, agriculture, beauty and wellness, auto-mobile have to be provided to students through NSQF. However, the present plan in the state is to introduce it as part of the syllabus in textbooks. The SCERT will recommend the modification in the textbooks and syllabus based on ICT and skill development programmes.
