No pass or fail: Just go to college, US style

<div class="section0"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="">NEW DELHI: Uncle Sam may inspire vocational education in India towards a new direction. Realising that its own system of vocational education hasn''t taken Indian students far in life, the HRD ministry is now studying the US concept of the community college to remodel its programme.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">To work on this concept, which is so popular in the US, the HRD ministry has constituted a committee under additional secretary Sudeep Banerjee.Issues like recognition and accreditation of community colleges, the implementing agency and the possibility of turning existing institutes into community colleges are being dealt by this committee.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">"We already have vocational education schemes running through ITIs and polytechnics in rural and urban areas. We will look into the possibility of turning them into community colleges," said a top source.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">Publicly supported and locally-oriented, community colleges in the US are a bridge between school and university. They offer occupational courses with ''catch-up'' programmes for students who lack a strong educational background or can''t afford higher education.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">"It is a fairly democratic system of education that gives opportunity to all," said an HRD ministry official. With a credit-based associated degree from a community college, a student in the US is eligible for a job as an industrial worker, paramedic, trained plumber, carpenter, receptionist or even a bank accountant, depending on his specialisation.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">While offering these courses, these institutes also provide scope for vertical movement. The two-year associate degree offered at community colleges enables them to transfer credits to complete a BA degree at a university.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">No doubt a brilliant system, but it will have to be modified to suit the local temper. "The US model will be closely studied to see if there is scope for Indianisation. On the face of it, it seems like a workable idea," the official said.</span><br /><br /></div> </div>