Vocational Higher Secondary Education had a humble beginning in Kerala in 1983-84. To start with, the scheme was implemented in 19 schools with a few selected courses and was extended to 73 schools in 1985-86 offering 27 different vocational courses. In 1988-89 there were 100 schools with a total of 200 batches. The programme continued to expand every year until 1995-96 and the number of schools went up to 310 with a total of 814 baches offering 45 different courses.
The next expansion came in 2000-01 and the number of schools went up to 375 with a total of 1000 batches. At present, there are 389 schools with 1100 batches in the state imparting Vocational Higher Secondary Education in 35 restructured courses with modernized curriculum. Of the 389 schools, 128 schools are in the private aided sector and 261 are in the government sector.