IMPORTANCE OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The question we are about to answer in this unit is: What is actually the need and rationale behind vocational education? If you have understood our discussions so far, you should at this point be able to answer this question to some extent. However it is important to note that vocational education delivers benefits to:

•  individuals learners, 
• employers and employees, 
• the economy, and 
• the nation. 

You will see these from our discussion in this unit.

OBJECTIVE

At the end of this unit, you should be able to: identify the various benefits and importance of vocational education to the individuals, the economy as well as to the nation.

The Need for Vocational Education

Vocational Education can be described as one of the most viable solutions to the industrial, technological, economic, societal and national problems of any nation. We shall now consider the usefulness of vocational education to:

• Individuals; 
• The society; 
• Technology and the economy; and 
• The nation 

a. Individuals

Vocational education is important to individuals in the following ways:

• It increases the number of options i.e. choices of available occupational areas from which individuals can choose. 
• It boosts the earning power of individuals by ensuring thateverybody profits from one form of training or instructions or other depending on the individuals’ abilities and aptitudes; 
•  It empowers individuals economically if they possess saleable and relevant skills to enable them gain and maintain gainful employment or become self-reliant; 
• It acts as a vehicle towards self-actualization; 
• It makes individuals to be psychologically balanced and physically fit because work gives a sense of identity, purpose and value; 
• It reduces idleness and tendency to crimes and other deviant behaviours; 
• It helps individuals maximize their potentials, talents and aptitudes thereby inducing in them a sense of achievement and worth; 
• It makes individuals conscious of the technical and economic implications of their activities or inactivities; 
• It enables people make sensible economic decisions and contributes as producers and consumers; 
• It leads to improved standard of living, which results in healthier and longer lives. 

b. The Society

The importance of vocational education to the society includes the following:

• It leads to practical solutions to various challenges and problems in the society owing to technological breakthroughs and advancement; 
• The society avoids being a victim of those who should help in building it. This means that crime, deviant behaviour and various societal ills become drastically reduced; 
•  It helps the society to become truly free and democratic; 
• It helps in building a just and egalitarian society; 
• Education, which is a key social service, stands to enjoy more patronage and confidence from the people. This is because vocational education gives meaning and value to general education; 
• It creates opportunities for women, the physically challenged and even the retired but not too old citizens to join the labour force, thereby giving them a sense of belonging and relevance; 
•  It enables the nation to look inwards and exploit and protect her local resources. 

c. Technological and the Economic Empowerment of a Nation

Vocational education is of great relevance to the technological and economic status of a nation. Its importance in this direction includes:

• Technological breakthroughs and advancement which naturally lead to economic emancipation and independence; 
• Appropriate development and proper positioning of the technological and economic power of a nation through appropriate human resource development; 
•  Improvement of the per-capita income of citizens, thereby boosting the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Gross National Product (GNP); 
• Effective poverty alleviation programmes; 
• Effective mobility of labour through training and re-training; vi. Boosts in economic activities and services; 
• Effectively handling the issue of transfer of technology and its attendant problems; 
• Reduction of over-dependence on imported products; 
• Conservation of the resources that could have been spent in engaging the services of foreign experts; 
• Creation of a technological identity for the nation. 

d. The Nation

Vocational education plays a vital role in the survival and development of any nation especially, the developing ones such as Nigeria. This point can never be over-emphasized. The importance of Vocational Education to the nation includes:

• Increase in the productive power of the nation; 
• It meets the manpower needs of the nation; 
•  Propelling of the nation towards all-round independence, stability and elf-reliance. This implies a situation whereby a nation is able to provide for and face her various needs and challenges with little or no assistance from other nations. This is the case with the developed nations of the world such as Britain, America and Japan; 
• Emphasis on career-education boosts the workforce thereby promoting national growth and development; 
• Conservation and development of the vast of natural resources with which the country has been blessed; 
• Correction of the discrepancy that often exists between the number of graduates and the number of existing job opportunities in the nation; 
• Attraction of more people into the labour market through increase in the occupational/study options available the citizens; 

It is important to note that the various attributes of vocational education are not water-tight or mutually exclusive. Rather, they are inter- dependent as one enhances the other.

4.0CONCLUSION
Vocational education may not be a panacea to all the problems and challenges of life. However, it can be described as one of the most viable solutions to the industrial, technological, economic, societal and national problems of nations, particularly developing ones such as Nigeria.