Inclusive Human Capital Development through Non-formal Education: A Comprehensive Analysis on Vocational Training Programme in Sikkim

Skills and knowledge are the commanding forces of economic growth and social development for any nation. Despite the continuous thrust being given on education and training in the country, there is still a great shortage of trained and skilled manpower to address to the various industrial needs; and this has slowed down the industrial growth. The shortage of skilled manpower could be overcome by promoting Vocational Education & Training (VET). The paper presents highlights of the study undertaken and reporting on the feasibility, outcome and relevance of vocational education and training programme in the light of human capital development among the remotely located residents of Sikkim. While the secondary data collection method was adopted to review the literature to identify various variables and their antecedents, the primary data collection method introduced to collect first-hand information from 305 respondents on variables to analyse their impact on each other. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS-21) was used to facilitate the analysis. The validity of the instrument and the data was checked through exploratory factor analysis and reliability was checked through Cronbach's coefficient alpha.

The findings of the study depict that the nine research hypotheses are accepted out of ten with the help of this study, which will further help to understand and redefine an effective construct of VET programme. It was the objective of the study to understand the feasibility, outcome and relevance of VET in the State of Sikkim, for which, various outcome of VET as variables and their antecedents were identified and tested as significant, which can further help the stakeholders to make VET and its outcome more effective, if they seriously implement and work on those factors. The identified significant antecedents of VET are (i) attainment of valuable skills, (ii) motivation to continue, (iii) academic achievement and (iv) other recommendations. The only thing which is negative as identified in this study is the employment of the learners of VET. Surprisingly, it is revealed that the VET programmes do not have remarkable effect on getting employment generation in Sikkim.