Vocational courses go vacant amid UP Board prepares to make it compulsory

Critics argue that this clearly indicates either that secondary education department officials and teachers have completely failed to communicate the importance of these courses to students

The lack of student interest in vocational education has become a serious concern for officials, especially as the Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (UP Board) prepares to make these courses compulsory in over 29,000 affiliated schools across the state.

School students learning computer hardware repair (For representation only)

Data from the 2026 UP Board High School and Intermediate examinations highlights this challenge: not a single student enrolled in 15 vocational courses at the Intermediate level, and four vocational courses offered at the High School level saw zero enrollment.

Critics argue that this clearly indicates either that secondary education department officials and teachers have completely failed to communicate the importance of these courses to students, or that parents themselves do not want their children to learn income-generating skills during their school education. A shortage of instructors and resources in schools is also considered a major contributing factor to the low interest. Meanwhile, UP Board officials maintain that efforts to promote vocational courses are continuous.

At the Intermediate level, zero candidates registered in subjects including Land Conservation, Marketing and Salesmanship, Insurance, Pottery Science (Ceramics), Prosthetics and Orthotics Technology, Hand Block Printing and Vegetable Drawing, Metal Craft (Molding), Metal Craft (Engraving), Repair and Maintenance of Household Electrical Appliances, Retail Trade, Security, Mobile Repairing, Tourism and Hospitality, IT/ITES and Healthcare.

If we go by the official data, students from classes 9 to 12 generally do not prefer vocational courses, and even in courses with some enrollment, the numbers are minimal. Records for Intermediate courses show: 33 students in Dairy Technology, 16 in Beekeeping, 15 in Embroidery, and 14 in English Shorthand and Typing across the state this year. Other courses with low numbers include Sericulture (38 students), Crop Protection Service (159), Cooperation (45), and Seed Production Technology (152). A few courses saw “somewhat reasonable” registration, such as Basic General Subjects (32,545 students), Garment Design and Decoration (3,975), and Hindi Shorthand and Typing (3,890). However, the number of students in any vocational course remains extremely low when compared to the total 25,75,460 registered Intermediate candidates.

Enrollment figures at the High School level were similarly low: Plumbing (12 students), IT/ITES (60), Automobile (67), and Retail Trading (a mere 7). Tailoring was one of the better-performing courses with 2,139 students. Nevertheless, when measured against the total 27,61,696 registered High School candidates, the overall number of students in any vocational course remains extremely low.