A short history of vocational education at CBSE

Vocational education at CBSE did not arrive all at once. It grew out of a decades-long push, from early standalone vocational streams to today's skill subjects that sit alongside a student's regular academic subjects.

If you followed a link here from an older RFP or policy document, note that specific tenders and requests for proposals from a given year are historical records — this page gives the broader context around them rather than reproducing the original document.

From a separate stream to an integrated subject

Vocational education in Indian schools was, for a long time, organised as a distinct stream students opted into after Class 10, largely separate from the mainstream academic curriculum. Over time, policy shifted toward integrating skill development directly into general schooling, so that vocational learning became a subject choice within the regular CBSE curriculum rather than a parallel track.

A major turning point was the move toward a unified National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF), which aligned school-based vocational subjects with the same competency levels used across vocational training nationally. This gave CBSE's skill subjects a common structure and made it possible for sector skill councils — industry bodies responsible for specific fields — to help design curriculum for subjects like IT, retail, healthcare, tourism and financial markets.

How the subject list has grown

What began as a handful of options has expanded considerably. CBSE now offers vocational and skill subjects across Classes 6 through 12 in many schools, spanning fields as varied as artificial intelligence, financial markets, food production, tourism, office administration, healthcare, media, agriculture and more — with new subjects added periodically as sector skill councils develop fresh curricula.

Procurement and partnership exercises — requests for proposals to training partners, content developers and certification bodies — have been part of how CBSE and its partners build out this curriculum and teacher-training infrastructure over the years. An RFP from a specific year reflects that year's procurement cycle rather than an ongoing programme, so treat any older RFP as a historical snapshot.

Where things stand now

Today, a CBSE-affiliated school can apply to offer one or more skill subjects as an additional sixth subject, assessed with the same weight as a student's academic subjects. The current framework, subject list and assessment structure are published and updated by CBSE each academic year.

For the current policy documents, circulars and subject list, refer to cbse.gov.in rather than an archived tender or circular.