As per Sanjay Kumar, Union Secretary, Department of Education & Literacy, vocational education will soon be made mandatory for students in grades 6 and above in government and aided schools.

The initiative aligns with the 2020 National Education Policy (NEP), which emphasises the inclusion of vocational subjects such as crafts, entrepreneurial skills, traditional and local arts, and any other subject that demonstrates local expertise in the curriculum. Only about 5% of people have a vocational education.

"Creating demand for vocational training is one of the challenges, but the market will create its own demand over time." "The market will lead the way in creating demand for vocational education," Kumar said at the fifth edition of the businessline ChangeMaker Awards.

During the awards ceremony, he spoke at a special session moderated by Richa Mishra Tripathi, Senior Associate Editor, businessline.

"We may introduce a credit system to ensure popularity (or full-fledged subjects)," Kumar added, noting that the goal would be to "equip students with a variety of skills in addition to general education."

The goal is to prepare students for industry demands by providing them with a variety of skills in addition to general education. Currently, India has 14.86 lakh schools, 10.5 lakh of which are government-owned or government-aided, with the remainder being privately owned. The number of students enrolled is close to 26 crore.