Improving the perception of technical and vocational education is on the government’s priority list, according to Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan.
Speaking at an event to mark 25 years of India-Asean strategic partnerships and the East Policy, Pradhan said, , “We are targeting to improve societal perception of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). By collectively marketing the importance of TVET, we provide an international relevance to our localized efforts.”
Pradhan said that India can be a knowledge partner by sharing best practices and innovations in driving skill training in the country.
“For instance, Singapore’s Institute of Technical Education is one the primary consultants to several of us, helping spread Singapore’s best practices customised to a local context. Malaysia has shown us the way in creating an internationally benchmarked quality assurance framework, and can be our resource for brining such practices to our home country,” he added.
Pradhan also said that there is growing engagement with India and the ASEAN region in the hydrocarbon sector.
He said, “ASEAN region is also a source of crude oil and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to meet India’s hydrocarbon requirement. Last year, we imported 6 mt of crude oil from the region.”