Srinagar, Nov. 21 -- India's educational framework has historically been bifurcated into skills training and academics, a dichotomy that originated from colonial times when academic degrees received prominence while vocational education was relegated. Despite policy initiatives in 1968 and 1986 aimed at fostering vocational training, inadequate implementation perpetuated the segregation and stigmatisation of these pathways, contributing to persistent issues such as youth unemployment and a deficit of skilled professionals in the twenty-first century. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 endeavours to remediate this by integrating vocational education across all tiers beginning from Grade 6, dismantling the rigid separation from academ...