Institute for Holistic Learning Based on Montessori Education

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73 Sewdass, Nisha - South Africa - nsewdass@postino.up.ac.za
Further Education and Training (FET) as a means of encouraging lifelong learning within the knowledge
economy: a South African perspective.
Emerging from the changing global economy is a new set of values. This has meant that developing as well the
developed countries are <strong>for</strong>ced to shift from the industrial to the in<strong>for</strong>mation era. Job security is becoming more
important and individuals will have to become more innovative and proactive in order to retain their positions in
organizations. It is further noted that traditional career planning is not adequate to help individuals to cope with the
rapid rate of change in technology, society and the knowledge-based economy.
The increasing competitiveness of modern economies requires society with lifelong learning as part of its norms and
standard practices. Furthermore, policy-makers, decision makers in government, business and industry must integrate
the lifelong learning ethos into the competitive strategy of the nation.
The National Training Board (NTB) in South Africa has endorsed the concept of lifelong learning and has adopted a
holistic approach towards education and training by combining the socio-economic needs of the country and the
development needs of the individual. This approach changes the thinking around education and training as separate
activities, to one of ‘lifelong learning’. Institutions will there<strong>for</strong>e have to move towards structuring themselves to
support the creation of learning and knowledge-centred organizations.
This paper will focus on discussing what lifelong learning is and why it is important in developing knowledge
economies such as South Africa. It will further concentrate on what FET is, and the FET Act of South Africa that
en<strong>for</strong>ces the concept of lifelong learning <strong>for</strong> all individuals. The manner in which the education and training structure
has changed will also be covered. Continuous development, like lifelong learning is capable of taking place in all sorts
of settings both <strong>for</strong>mal and in<strong>for</strong>mal and the continuous development spiral model will be <strong>for</strong> discussed as being useful
<strong>for</strong> encouraging lifelong learning.
74 Sharma, Mukesh; Hahn, Dietmar J.; R. Parasuram - India - mukeshsharma@crispindia.com
Vocational Education in India - A tool <strong>for</strong> sustainable development
Poverty is defined as “the state or fact of being in want” or simply the lack of enough income and resources. In the
third world countries like India, the roots of poverty lie in the macro and micro government policies, inefficient delivery
mechanism and lack of political commitments to poverty reduction. As an initiative, India’s 10th Five-Year plan
proposes to shift the focus of planning from merely resources to policy, procedural and institutional changes which are
essential <strong>for</strong> every Indian to realise his or her potential. The development of individual’s skills through Vocational
Education and Training (VET) is one of the most important factors <strong>for</strong> sustainable livelihoods.
No one ever disputes that vocational education is the demand of time, the country needs more skilled manpower, we
need more skilled technicians and personnel, industries based on modern technology require different skill profiles than
what is being supplied today, the ever expanding service sector requires a large number of enterprising young people.
Further, the rural development depends on the skill base in rural areas and the aimless pursuit of higher education
must be halted so that requirement of a variety of services of millions of people can be met and <strong>for</strong> that vocational
education and training (VET) is an inevitable solution to reduce the ever increasing unemployment and poverty.
This paper tries to address the ef<strong>for</strong>ts which were made to install the vocational education in India and some of the
major factors responsible <strong>for</strong> its slow growth in the past. It expresses the major concerns and their remedy. The paper
discusses the effect of VET on employability, its need <strong>for</strong> sustainable economic and social development, its relevance
with present and future job opportunities. The paper also presents some of the success stories, which took place in
the state of Madhya Pradesh, the central province of India. These successful examples demonstrate, how the