India's Vocational Landscape

With an estimated 500 million skilled workers needed to meet Indian growth demands by 2022, the urgent need for appropriately skilled labour becomes more apparent now than ever before. To address this growing need for skilled labour, the Government has established a National Skills Development Council (NSDC), which works with both Sector Skills Councils as well as NGOs working in the vocational development space, with Pratham being one of its partners.

Though there has been increased focus and growth in the vocational training landscape of India, with various organizations having become involved with this mission of increasing the employability of India’s youth, the key issues faced still remain the same - mobilization of students & recognition by industries of qualifications gained through vocational courses. With many of these youth coming from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, it is often unfeasible for them to afford vocational skilling courses. In addition to this, with a variety of institutions providing vocational training courses, problems of credibility and recognition of the same also arise. Therefore, students are unwilling to spend their limited savings towards courses that may not help them in securing a job. It is therefore important to create standardized content, and subsequently a standardized certification that is recognised by industries, thereby helping youth gain sustainable employment.

The service industry also has a key role to play in achieving this goal. They have to recognise the certified talent available in the market. The students need the assurance that once he or she is trained and certified, they will be absorbed by the industry. The industry therefore needs to create a commonly acceptable certification framework where they incentivise candidates who get recruited through this route. This would motivate students to invest in such skilling and certification programs that would eventually lead to a healthy supply of certified talent for the industry.

Achieving Self-Sufficiency

- by Saurabh Shah

India’s young adults, specifically those in low-income villages, survive on low-wage positions that may pay around $1 per day, forcing them to leave educational pursuits due to familial and financial pressures.  Pratham believes that helping these young adults access opportunities to improve their skills can ultimately improve their livelihoods.  After I learned about these issues, I wanted to enhance my contribution to Pratham beyond fundraising efforts and be engaged on the ground.  I received my MBA from UCLA Anderson in June 2012, and my employer, the Boston Consulting Group, provided a fellowship for me to engage in a social impact project for three months.  Excited to get involved, I worked on strategy for Pratham Institute, which aims to bridge the gap between India’s growing need for skilled manpower and the lack of vocational training in rural areas.  The objective was to make the Hospitality Center in Aurangabad self-sufficient – the costs to run the center outweigh the student fee revenue, primarily due to the high fixed costs to operate extensive facilities, i.e., guest rooms and external training rooms available for company off-site retreats.  Achieving self-sufficiency was imperative to its longevity since PACE-Aurangabad was a flagship center and had the largest capacity of vocational training centers across all industries.  Based on my analysis, I recommended that the center raise its price for guests to meet those of neighboring hotels, target additional customer segments such as local schools and decrease costs by creating student committees.  I presented my results to Madhav Chavan, who received it well and provided suggestions so that the project could be shared with current donors.

In addition to the rigorous analytical work, I formed long-lasting friendships with those in the Pratham Institute group by conversing over the three daily cups of chai, taking a turn in leading out the stray cat that decided to make our office its home, and communicating in Gujhindlish (my own language, a mix of Gujarati, Hindi and English).  Not having been to India in nearly twenty years, I stepped outside my comfort zone and became self-sufficient in the process.  Most importantly, I saw how teachers were changing the lives of students through PACE programs on a firsthand basis, and that the passion Mr. Chavan and the rest of the Pratham team radiate is addictive, serving as continual sources of inspiration.  I look forward to staying involved with Pratham on both the fundraising and operations fronts as I progress in my professional career.  I thank Pratham for an exceptional opportunity.

- Saurabh Shah, currently works with BCG, and volunteered with Pratham Institute as part of a social impact fellowship program provided by them.

Increasing Focus on Corporate Social Responsibility

Over time, increasing attention is being given to social development within the Indian landscape. With the new Companies Bill coming into the picture, Indian companies with certain financial standing will not only be pressured to spend 2% of their net profit on CSR initiatives, but also increase the transparency of what this money is going towards. The current proposal by the government suggests that companies with a profit of over Rs 5 crore, or turnover of Rs 1,000 crore, should make every effort to spend a percentage of their profits on social causes such as the eradication of poverty, education, health and vocational skilling. Not satisfied with just the above, former finance minister Yashwant Sinha has suggested this clause be made mandatory. However, even if not made mandatory, with companies having to justify why they haven’t spent money on CSR, one should soon see crores of rupees entering the development sector hence giving rise to huge opportunities within the social sector space.