Is it possible that vocational and technical Education could be our first priority in an economic crisis?

The word "crisis" implies something quite immediate to be addressed. Suggesting that vocational and technical education should be our "first priority" in a crisis is somewhat like suggesting that your first priority when a building is on fire should be to improve the design of the fire truck.

I always say that one should stick to basics in any crisis. Let us open the first page of any book on economics and find out the answer. In crisis equate your wants with your means. This can be done by substituting cheaper wants for costlier wants, changing present wants into future wants or by changing future means into present means by availing loans or credits( these are to be repaid from your future means). Please understand that wants are goods and services you want to acquire and means are money and money related forms of wealth like interest, income, rent, dividend etc that are measured in units of money. Wants and means have physical existence and they are forms of wealth( or human need). They can neither be created nor be destroyed but can be changed from one form to another.

In crisis, remember that when one has lost there must be a person who has gained. All can not be losers. See that the gainer brings out the money in circulation so that economy is brought to normal.

The crisis just comes and goes. The choice of your career will be with you until the rest of your life. To be a master is nothing wrong. Many college graduates cannot find a decent job, and have no skills to do anything else such as selling burgers.

That can be one strategy along with other approaches. There is no hard and fast rule.