Uncertain itineraries: dual system of training and contemporary TVET reforms in India

Maitra, S. , Maitra, S. and Thakur, M. (2022) Uncertain itineraries: dual system of training and contemporary TVET reforms in India. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, (doi: 10.1080/13636820.2022.2042724) (Early Online Publication)

Abstract

Over the past decade and a half, skill development has assumed critical importance in India’s policy discourse. In this context, in 2016, a German inspired vocational training programme called Dual System of Training was adopted by the Indian government to ensure a judicious balance of classroom learning and on-the-job training for young people. Based on semi-structured interviews with twenty-five national level policy makers in India we examine the drivers of this particular policy adoption and suggest that the sedimentation, expansion and institutionalization of the policy remain embedded in a bureaucracy-driven centralised and hierarchical framework, thereby limiting much of its transformative promise and potential. Our contextual focus on TVET reforms in India characterised by massive youth demographics, competing political compulsions, uneven capitalist development and increasing nationalistic tendencies reveal the complexities of policy adoption from the Global South perspective, an area that remains understudied.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Funding: This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [ES/S004297/1].
• Status: Early Online Publication
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Maitra, Dr Saikat and Maitra, Professor Srabani
• Authors: Maitra, S., Maitra, S., and Thakur, M.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Education; College of Social Sciences > School of Education > Culture, Literacies, Inclusion & Pedagogy
• Journal Name: Journal of Vocational Education and Training
• Publisher: Routledge
• ISSN: 1363-6820
• ISSN (Online): 1747-5090
• Published Online: 27 February 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 The Author(s)
• First Published: First published in Journal of Vocational Education and Training 2022
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
303269		Quality apprenticeships for disadvantaged youth India and Mexico	Oscar Valiente	Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)	ES/S004297/1	ED - The Robert Owen Centre for Educational Change