© UNESCO
About 300 participants attended a three-day International Conference, ‘Integration of academic courses with vocational education in secondary schools’, held in New Delhi, India from 17 to19 February 2012. The conference was organised by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) in partnership with the UNESCO New Delhi Office, and the Commonwealth of Learning.
The conference made recommendations on: means of increasing access to learner-centred quality school education providing vocational skills; strengthening the environment and image of vocational education and training; and establishing better linkages between industry, schools and training providers.
A special session on ‘Developing a framework for the recognition, validation and accreditation of non-formal and informal learning’ was chaired by Mr Jagmohan Singh Raju, Director-General of the National Literacy Mission, India. At this session UIL addressed the identification of informal knowledge and skills as well as procedures and mechanisms for recognising those skills.
The Conference was opened by Ms Anshu Vaish, Secretary for School Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development. At a special inaugural speech Mr Shigeru Aoyagi, Director UNESCO New Delhi Office, and Representative to Bhutan, Maldives, India and Sri Lanka, hoped the conference would be a platform to strengthen co-operation between education and training institutions on the one hand and industry on the other. The Minister of State for Education, Ms Daggubati Purandeshwari gave the closing address.
