Vocational Training: Definition, Types and Examples

By Indeed Editorial Team

Updated 6 September 2022

Published 6 June 2021

The Indeed Editorial Team comprises a diverse and talented team of writers, researchers and subject matter experts equipped with Indeed's data and insights to deliver useful tips to help guide your career journey.

Vocational training focuses on developing technical skills for a specific job or trade. It offers you practical knowledge in contrast to theoretical knowledge offered by the conventional formal education system. Understanding different vocational training options can help you choose the right one for your career growth and development. In this article, we explain the meaning of vocational training and explore some of the common types of vocational training options available in India.

What Is Vocational Training?

Vocational training is the instructional program that prepares you for an occupation that requires a specialised skill, such as a technician, artisan or tradesperson. It may involve imparting classroom instructions, hands-on training or a combination of both. Secondary and higher secondary education in India usually includes one or two vocational subjects. Still, real vocational training is imparted outside the formal education system and it often leads to a certification or a diploma. You may also undergo vocational training directly as an apprentice or a trainee with or without any formal qualification.

Why Is Vocational Training Important?

Vocational training is important due to the following reasons:

It offers training for specific skills and jobs.
You can undergo vocational training along with or outside the formal education system.
It prepares you to take up a high-paying job or occupation almost immediately.
Undergoing training from a vocational school earns you a certification from an independent organisation, which vouches for your skills and puts you in an advantageous position over informally trained candidates.
It helps you perform your job better.
Since its utility is direct and clear, students often participate more actively than the formal education.
It offers a learning opportunity to those who missed the formal education or those who are not sure whether they should attend a school.
It offers an opportunity to learn the skills of your choice and make a career switch at almost any point in time.
It offers employment opportunities in villages and small towns, which prevents population migration to large cities.
A majority of the vocational skills are universal in nature and they make you eligible for employment in foreign countries too.
It provides the much-needed skilled manpower to the industry.

Vocational Training Examples

Following are some examples of common vocational training programs offered in India:

Makeup and beautician training
Mehendi (henna) designing
Cooking and baking classes
Sewing, stitching and tailoring
Woodworking and carpentry training
Jewelry designing courses
Bike and car mechanic courses
Home appliance repair technician training (air conditioning system, refrigerator, air cooler and washing machine repair)
Mobile, laptop and computer repair training
TV and radio repair training
Soap and detergent making
Battery charging, maintenance and testing
Laundry and dry cleaning
Shoemaking and repair training
Soft toy making
Pottery, ceramics and clay classes
Air ticketing
Tour guide courses
Beekeeping training
Horticulture and cut flower courses
Sericulture (Silkworm farming) training
Plumbing, masonry and electrical training
Welding training
Accounting and bookkeeping courses
Pet grooming courses
Medical lab technician courses
Physiotherapy courses

Types Of Vocational Training

Following are the major types of vocational training programs offered in India:

1. Vocational courses as part of the school curriculum

Schools in India usually offer vocational courses as part of the regular curriculum. They allow students to choose a few skill-based subjects from a wide variety of options in addition to the standard compulsory subjects. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) starts vocational subjects as early as from the upper primary level (class V to VIII) in order to give students the necessary orientation so that they can explore different career choices at secondary (class IX and X) and senior secondary (class XI and XII) levels.

CBSE gives the flexibility to choose from the following types of vocational courses along with regular school education:

Business and commerce courses, such as office secretaryship, stenography and computer application, accountancy and auditing, marketing and salesmanship, banking, retail, financial market management and business administration
Engineering and technology courses, such as electrical technology, automobile technology, civil engineering, air conditioning and refrigeration technology, electronics technology, geospatial technology, foundry and IT application
Health and paramedical courses, such as ophthalmic techniques, medical laboratory techniques, auxiliary nursing and midwifery, X-ray technician course, healthcare sciences, health and beauty studies and medical diagnostics
Fashion and textile courses, such as fashion design and clothing construction and textile design, dyeing and printing
Agricultural courses, such as poultry farming, horticulture and dairying
Hospitality and tourism courses, such as food service, catering, hotel management, bakery and confectionary and travel and tourism management
Other courses, such as transportation system, life insurance and library management

Similarly, the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) offers the following choices of vocational subjects:

Mechanical, civil and telecommunication engineering technician courses
Offset printing and graphic designing technician courses
Air conditioning and refrigeration
Hospitality management
Crèche and pre-primary school management
Interior and exterior design
Computer theory and system analyst courses
Business studies
Physical education
Office assistant courses

2. Polytechnic diploma courses after 10th class

A polytechnic diploma is a three-year diploma course in engineering approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). You can join a polytechnic diploma after completing your 10th class either through an entrance exam or based on your 10th class marks. Polytechnic diplomas provide theoretical and practical knowledge on specific streams of engineering on similar lines to Bachelor of Engineering (BE) and Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) courses. These diplomas make you eligible for various government and private sector jobs like a junior engineer, clerk, technician and IT assistant.

You can also start your own business like an engineering workshop, garage or a repair centre. Polytechnic diplomas also make you eligible for a lateral entry into the second year of BE and B.Tech programs.

Some of the popular streams of polytechnic diplomas include the following:

Civil engineering
Mechanical engineering
Chemical engineering
Power engineering
Metallurgy engineering
Textile engineering
Computer science
Automobile engineering
Electronics and communication
Electrical engineering
Instrumentation engineering
IT engineering
Aeronautical engineering
Biotechnology engineering
Agricultural engineering
Food processing technology
Dairy technology

3. Industrial Training Institute (ITI) courses

ITIs are trade-focused higher secondary schools set up under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship of the central government. These institutes offer training in over 130 trades and crafts. The minimum qualification required to join the ITI training is an eighth-class pass. The training period lasts from six months to two years. Successful completion of the training earns you the National Trade Certificate (NTC).

After completing ITI training, you can join an apprenticeship program in different industries. You also become eligible for a lateral entry into the second year of a polytechnic diploma.

Following are some of the popular disciplines of trade in which ITI offers training:

Operator: Excavator, pump, stone mining machine and advanced machine tools
Fitter: Sanitary hardware, marine engine and general
Technician: Foundry, radiology, spinning, rubber, physiotherapy, weaving and textile processing
Mechanic: consumer electronics, machine tools, medical electronics, motor vehicle, air-conditioner, lift and escalator
Painter: Domestic, industrial and general
Building maintenance: Carpenter, mason, plumber, electrician and fireman
Machine shop: Welder, draughtsman, sheet metal worker, machinist, tuner and tool and die maker
Computers: Computer operator, desktop publishing (DTP), web designing, multimedia animation and medical transcription

4. Skill development programs for small-scale industries

Various government and non-government organisations offer industrial skill development programs for small-scale industries. For example, MSME-Development Institute, functioning under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), conducts general and product-specific entrepreneurship skill development programs (ESDP) of six weeks' duration. Some of the common trades these programs cover include the following:

Food processing
Screen printing
Motor rewinding and transformer winding
Leather goods manufacturing
Two-wheeler repair and servicing

It also organises skill development programs (SDP) of three to six months' duration in machine shop practice and fabrication workshops. The shortest ones are the process demonstration programs of one-day duration related to the manufacture of the following products:

Liquid soap
Phenyl
Room fresheners
Detergent powder
Shoe polish

5. Vocational courses by state governments

Many state governments offer vocational programs outside the formal education system at the local level. For example, the Society for Employment Promotion and Training in Twin Cities (SETWIN) offers skill-based training to educated unemployed youth in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad in Telangana. It has over 70 centres (own and franchised) that impart training in over 100 courses, including the following:

Technical courses: Solar technician, CCTV installation and gem cutting and polishing
Computer courses: MS-OFFICE, multimedia, AUTO CAD, computer hardware and graphic designing
Management courses: Diploma and PG Diploma courses in food production, tourism and hotel management
Women-oriented courses: Garment making, herbal beauty care and dress designing
Educational courses: Spoken English, pre-primary teacher training and drawing teacher training
Media courses: Reporter, anchor, editor, photographer and floor manager

In addition to the above, you can also undergo vocational training through apprenticeship, on-the-job training and distance learning programs.