Non-Formal Vocational Education and its Role in Human Capital Formation: An Assessment in Pakistan

This study assessed the quality of non-formal vocational education (NFVE) and its role in humancapital formation in Pakistan. The Human Development Index (HDI) was adopted to assess quality of NFVE, and human capital formation. Quality was assessed by considering three dimensions: physical facilities, availability/use of audiovisual aids/educational technologies, and the teaching learning environment. While, human capital formation was assessed by selecting three dimensions: ability, building capacity, and productivity to see achievements of learners (across gender) who learned from the non-formal vocational education. In summary, the two value indexes revealed that the quality of non-formal vocational education (NFVE) was found to be average, whereas the level of human capital development was rated as poor. However, a bivariate analysis in this study proved that there is a very strong positive relationship between the quality of non-formal vocational education and human capital formation regardless of the poor performance of NFVE in converting learners into real human capital. For quality enhancement, this research has suggested to add the idea of “practical empowerment” in the NFVE which can be achieved by including various other skills related to computing, market, business, social, and decision-making, in the NFVE.