Vocational education has been positioned as a cornerstone of India’s skills-driven growth agenda, embedded within flagship initiatives such as Skill India, the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) and the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. In Assam, the scale of this intervention is significant.
More than 1,700 government secondary and higher secondary schools offer vocational courses across 14 trades, enrolling over 1.93 lakh students and engaging more than 3,400 vocational trainers during the 2024–25 academic year. On paper, this represents one of the largest school-level skill education networks in eastern India. On the ground, however, the lived reality of vocational teachers tells a far more precarious story.
A detailed response submitted by the Vocational Teachers’ Association of Assam (VTAA) to EastMojo lays bare the structural contradictions at the heart of Assam’s vocational education system
While the state has rapidly expanded access to skill-based education, it has done so by institutionalising insecurity for the very teachers tasked with delivering it.
Expansion without consolidation
Vocational education under NSQF was introduced in Assam in the 2015 academic session through Samagra Shiksha Axom. What began with 57 schools and two trades has since expanded to cover sectors ranging from IT/ITeS and healthcare to agriculture, automotive services, beauty and wellness, tourism and hospitality, electronics, food processing, power, and media and entertainment.
Official data show that vocational programmes are now implemented in 1,713 secondary and higher secondary schools, including PM-SHRI institutions and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas, with sector-wise enrolment steadily rising each year
Yet, the VTAA points out that infrastructure development has not kept pace with expansion. Many schools lack fully equipped vocational laboratories, adequate tools, consumables, and raw materials necessary for hands-on, competency-based training. As a result, vocational education often risks becoming certificate-oriented rather than skill-oriented, undermining its stated objective of employability.
The contract trap
The most serious concerns, however, relate to the service conditions of vocational teachers. Unlike regular subject teachers recruited through state-level commissions, most vocational trainers in Assam are hired through private Training Management Partners (TMPs) engaged by the government to implement NSQF programmes.
This outsourced model, according to the VTAA, has created a workforce trapped in short-term contracts, weak accountability mechanisms, and chronic uncertainty
Contracts are typically issued for six months and renewed annually, leaving teachers with no long-term security. Continuity of service depends not on performance or experience, but on whether a particular TMP retains its contract with the state.
When TMPs change, teachers are often forced to reapply, re-interview, or risk disengagement altogether, even after years of service in government schools.
While a small cohort of 101 vocational trainers from the 2015 batch received limited relief through a 2021 Governor’s order—granting them revised pay under PB-2 and service continuation up to the age of 60—this benefit has not been extended to subsequent batches.
For the vast majority recruited after 2016, there are no sanctioned posts, no career progression pathways, and no parity with regular teachers.
Delayed salaries and hidden deductions
Salary delays are another persistent grievance. Teachers report waiting three to four months for their remuneration, with instances where an October salary was credited only in January of the following year
Pay structures vary widely across TMPs, leading to inconsistencies in remuneration for identical work. Errors in Provident Fund and ESIC deductions are common, further eroding trust in the system.
The issue is compounded by automated attendance systems that do not account for technical failures or official duties.
One documented case highlights how a vocational teacher faced salary deductions of ₹778 and ₹805 on separate occasions—once due to a malfunctioning attendance app, and once while performing official election duty, despite submitting all required documentation
Such deductions may appear minor in isolation, but for teachers who are often the sole earners in their families, they represent significant financial and psychological stress.
Administrative pressure and ethical concerns
Beyond financial insecurity, vocational teachers report intense administrative pressure under the outsourced model.
According to the VTAA, teachers are sometimes compelled to sign restrictive agreements barring them from approaching higher authorities or seeking regularisation, a practice they argue violates constitutional and labour protections
Some trainers are required to deposit security amounts at the time of joining, an unusual demand within public education systems.
There are also allegations of coercion to manipulate data, backdated documentation, and pressure from coordinators and TMP officials. Experiences accrued over years are often not recognised when teachers are transferred or shifted, forcing them to rejoin as “freshers” despite their prior service. Such practices, teachers argue, erode professional dignity and undermine morale.
Impact on classrooms and students
The consequences of these conditions extend directly into classrooms. When teachers are preoccupied with delayed salaries, contract renewals, and administrative compliance, pedagogical quality inevitably suffers. Practical sessions are shortened, industry visits and guest lectures are delayed or cancelled, and teachers often have to bear out-of-pocket expenses for activities that are officially funded but poorly disbursed
Students, in turn, graduate with NSQF certificates but insufficient job-ready skills. The VTAA warns that vocational streams risk being perceived as a “last option” rather than a credible educational pathway, reinforcing social stigma around skill-based education. This runs counter to the NEP 2020’s vision of integrating vocational learning into mainstream education with dignity and parity.
A systemic policy gap
At the policy level, the association identifies “excessive outsourcing” as the central failure of vocational education implementation in Assam. When core academic responsibilities—attendance, monitoring, salary processing—are controlled by third-party agencies, accountability becomes fragmented. Teachers answer to contractors rather than school leadership or the education department, weakening institutional ownership of vocational education
Despite repeated memoranda submitted to the Chief Minister, Education Minister, and senior officials, the VTAA says there has been little substantive response. Even established teachers’ bodies such as the Assam High School Teachers’ Association have raised concerns on behalf of vocational teachers, but structural reforms remain elusive.
Demands and the road ahead
The core demands of vocational teachers are straightforward: job security until retirement age, abolition of the TMP outsourcing model, and implementation of an “equal pay for equal work” principle aligned with forthcoming pay commission recommendations
These demands are not merely about remuneration; they speak to professional recognition and systemic stability.
Assam’s vocational education programme has undeniable scale and potential. Data show rising enrolment, expanding trades, and increasing certification numbers year on year
But without addressing the conditions of those who deliver this education, the programme risks becoming unsustainable. As teachers themselves argue, a system built on insecurity cannot produce skilled, confident, and future-ready students.
The challenge before Assam is clear: to align its policy rhetoric on skills and employability with institutional practices that respect labour, ensure dignity, and invest in long-term human capital. Until then, vocational teachers will remain the invisible backbone of a system that depends on them, yet rarely protects them.
Also Read: Lost’ for 160 years, Himalayan plant rediscovered in Dibang Valley
You just read a story that took days to report. Help us keep our reporters on the ground in the Northeast.
Ad-free reading, support and keep important stories alive
Support once (any amount)
Scan to pay via UPI