IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION:

Education is such an important aspect of life to flourish in every regard as an individual. Since the beginning of Pakistan, the education system hasn’t altered much. 

To speak on the basis of history, vocational education used to be delivered in a classroom or workplace, by professors and learned professionals educating pupils on work theory and skills. Nevertheless, in recent years, online vocational education has attained some eminent reputation. This has made learning different kinds of work skills from skilled professionals easier than ever!

In old times, the training is a required skill was given before the interview with an instructor. Now there are courses for skill training in all career fields.

After the advent of COVID-19, these courses are additionally available online too. With the schools being shut due to the recent lockdown, these online courses are earning popularity. 

KEEPING AN OPEN MIND:

The focus on academic education and its perseverance is essential to some degree but not all the way. We are at a scaffold where we have to choose our careers. And for the same purpose, we must traverse all possibilities depending on what we are good at and what we are passionate about. Vocational training trains us to be better professionals. With the world growing close and becoming a tiny place, the opportunities are only mounting. Getting VET, polishing those unique skills, and the experience that comes with it directly links an individual to a career in the future.

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION TRAINING IS THE NEED OF THE HOUR:

Vocational education training (VET) is “the need” of the hour because the practical learning exposure promotes confidence, creates employability, and professional individuals. All this leads to an increment in the economy of our country. 

As VET focuses on the “non-academic” aspect of education, such training becomes more beneficial because of the practical programs meant to serve the individuals to be accustomed to a professional setting and be comfortable operating in such a manner. 

Where formal training is delivered in form of courses that are for 3-4 years long, structured as a degree or diploma, VE training programs also entail certificates from reputed sources too. After the completion of the course placement, proposals are made available.

REASONS FOR THE GROWING NEED FOR VOCATIONAL TRAINING:

To have a better understanding of the role of the growing need and demand of vocational training, let’s have a look at some key issues existing in the current traditional educational system:

• One of the primary objectives of economic diversity is to generate new jobs in the private sector so that youth unemployment can be tackled. However, if individuals don’t have the skills needed, expatriates will resume being the more engaging prospect.
• Organisations struggle to find the skills they need, primarily at the entry level.
• This obviously results in governments not being able to manage to impart the skills and attitudes needed to match the spirit of their national visions. The skills gap is growing bigger as education economies require more advanced competencies.
• The former model of hiring nationals in high-paying government jobs is no more sustainable. It is greatly damaging the public sector, which relies massively on expatriates for its workforce.
• Youth unemployment is already among the greatest problems in the world, hoisted by the actively-growing population.

FIELD EXPOSURE IN REGARD TO VET:

I think VET is an excellent route for freshmen to gain insight into their chosen professions. It also gives them an opportunity to communicate with their field professionals. Institutions providing such courses also give their individuals an interning period. That is, for the internship program they can take with the company they are intrigued in working with. The employment offers are also excellent in reputed companies with some sort of stipend packages as well. This enables those individuals a chance to be self-sufficient and financially secure.

VET VS TRADITIONAL DEGREE:

VET is a contrasting training process in comparison to the traditional degree. It proposes a path that imparts the skills and awareness needed to work in a given domain. It is coordinated with the demands of the work and is an essential part of the education system.

The individuals come out “work ready” upon “graduation”. It provides practical education, so specific industry skills are developed that allow them to jump right into the profession and get started.

The VET system includes a variety of environments like apprenticeships or vocational schools and such.

The academic vs vocational dispute affects many individuals preparing for their careers. While both of these modes of establishments can offer exceptional education and perfect individuals for their jobs, they offer a massive 360° shift sort of approach towards training and work.

VET RESULTS IN WONDERS:

Through additional education with vocational training, one could have the possibility to:

• Progress to a higher-level position in the corresponding opening.
• Attain the skills and knowledge required to change careers entirely.
• Demand for higher pay to fit a credential or specialized skill.
• Do work based on competency solely.

CROSS-CULTURAL EXPERIENCE THROUGH VET:

Vocational schools attract individuals with a variety of varied life experiences. They have the chance to attend lectures and work closely with other individuals from different ethnic, cultural, and economic backgrounds. Individuals graduate with intimate experience of operating cross-culturally, a more beneficial understanding of interacting with people from different backgrounds, and the insight they need to flourish in jobs around the world. Individuals in vocational jobs begin their career paths because they have the chance to pursue their passion or a career that interests them.  

DEPENDENT TO BEING AN INDEPENDENT TRANSITION:

VET Courses are designed to encourage non-conventional individuals who wish to study while balancing other commitments.

Their prospective employer knows that this applicant has gone through specialized learning and practice in the field and is qualified to start operating in the new position right away.

Numerous VET-based programs can be completed quicker than the education programs provided for other fields.

Individuals get to make the transition from draining money to learning to make money in their careers quicker. This helps generate net benefits for them from a fiscal standpoint. 

COVID AND VET:

Comprehensive school closings affected over 1 billion individuals through the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The VET sector has suffered critical challenges during the crisis, most prominently the fact that the digital training environments that most education institutions had to rely on during closures didn’t work as well for practice-oriented training – the gist of VET education – as they do for theoretical learning.

As a global dilemma, Covid-19 required global collaboration. The complete closing of educational hubs in 2020 led to be longer in countries with the lowest educational performance and this linked with the need for foundation, tools, and technical expertise to deliver compelling online, is prone to have stimulated the social imbalance in training opportunities.

IT SKILL GAP:

Both employees and employers in the IT realm are familiar with the “IT skills gap”. For digital businesses today, IT not only sustains the business – it oftentimes is the business itself. The IT skills gap represents that businesses seldom have a challenging time finding, employing, and maintaining employees with the IT skills they require, to guarantee quality products.

The greatest concern is how businesses address these prevailing issues in the short term to assure that they don’t evolve into larger issues down the road.

GAPS AND IT SKILLS

The contrast between what companies need and what employees are truly able to do. A skills gap can affect any skills domain: hard skills like sales, IT, and such, as well as soft skills like interpersonal communication, time management, and such.

As IT has matured into the backbone of almost all business in the 21st century, IT skills involve an ever-broadening set of skills.

In 2019, the IT skills gap resumed expanding with rising demand and inadequate supply. The fundamental growth drivers included the conception of AI and its technologies. Despite the progression of technology, businesses will resume relying on the human workforce for productive problem-solving. 

CAUSE OF IT SKILLS GAP AND ITS SOLUTION:

IT skill gap is ever-growing and becoming a huge issue for the whole industry:

THE NEED IS GROWING

As businesses need to both sustain and optimize ever-increasing tech, they require more individuals for support. Many businesses are seeking digital transformation drives, only to understand that projects are essentially reliant upon onboarding individuals with the right skillset.

THE SUPPLY IS DEPLETING

IT skills demand also switches swiftly through the years. Employing supervisors are therefore frequently concentrating on fresh graduates equipped with the most advanced digital skills relevant to their digital transformations.

THE DEMAND FOR IT IS EXPANDING

Previously, conventional businesses were implementing technology. Today businesses beyond the scope of IT require an enormous number of IT individuals.

THE WAY WE EQUIP IT SKILLS IS EVOLVING

More individuals are “retooling” outside of conventional degree-granting colleges and universities, opting alternatively for short-term, intensive developer boot camps or VET camps that provide IT skills.

ANY SPECIALISATION IN IT IS DOUBLE-EDGE:

With IT flourishing, aspirants can specialize in just one or two domains. Businesses that require too narrow or particular a specialization will result in bridging the IT gap.

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO FIX THIS GAP:

UNRAVELING THE IT SKILLS GAP

Without the necessary hard-core plans for IT individuals moving towards polishing their skills in specific domains, learning and gathering the required skill set through VET; businesses will remain to have difficulties getting quality IT applicants. And when positions go vacant, there arises an instantaneous consequence: inefficiency and collateral damage, as well.

VET centers such as Bootcamps and coaching programs at the workplace, as well as online courses in IT skills for the industrial revolution have become a necessity.

LEARNING HOW TO LEARN WITH VET

With a heightened consciousness and confidence when faced with doubtfulness, individuals are adequately positioned to respond quickly and decisively while being on the field rather than being in a class envisioning such a scenario. They are highly expected to notice relations and patterns, which can enhance their work performance as well as encourage them to quickly bridge their knowledge and skill gaps to continue further training.