22nd June 2022
The world we know today is growing robust with technological advancements and spreading efficiency, quality and minimal time. Ground-breaking innovations and add-ons to the existing paradigms are making our lives more convenient and comfortable.
Application-related skills is what matters in carving up a niche in the employment market, which unfortunately faces an immense dearth in our education system.
With rapid changes in the demand for skills, Vocational Training has grabbed a significant foothold in terms of its relevance, affordability, imparted expertise through hands-on technical training, and edge over an increasingly competitive job market subsumed rapidly by automation.
What Is Vocational Training?
Vocational Education is the process of institutionalized training in a specialized skill to gain relevant practical expertise in a particular craft or technical domain. Their focus lies on gaining specific hands-on practical experience channelled towards the domain, thus enhancing their knowledge depth and prerequisite experience in the field, while widening their exposure towards the industry environment.
Students can opt for a Certification, Diploma, Apprenticeship or Associate Degree, while these courses have been reserved for higher secondary and the higher education levels. Vocational Education is available in a wide disciplinary range, spanning from Mechanics, Carpentry and Craftmanship to even Information Technology, Tourism Management, Paralegal and many more available domains.
Job Market Ready By Bridging The Skill Gap
Finding a job has become even harder. Along with an increasing population of contenders for the same vacancies, the quality of the traditional education system did not improve commensurately with the demands of the job market, therefore rendering their students unrequired for the job vacancies. According to the India Skills Report published in 2022, only 45.2% of graduates have been found to be employable in India.
Our Education System has favoured theoretical knowledge over its practical application by placing emphasis on rote memorization and failing to teach their students to apply the same knowledge in the real world. Therefore, it is imperative that possessing relevant and employable skills is the game maker in the market.
All For A Reasonable Cost
Education has become costlier and unsustainable for financially vulnerable families. According to a survey by NSSO, about 70% of the rural Indians are not able to complete their 10th class education, while 40% remains for the urban areas. The average expenditures incurred by the education of a college student stands at 5240/- per month, in the rural areas, with urban areas spending 3 times more. Therefore in such circumstances, Vocational Education has turned out a better alternative as its courses are cheaper and more affordable to those economically disadvantaged.
An Increasingly Digital Age Requires..
We are moving towards an age driven by the functioning of self-fulfilling algorithms on screen, instead of manual performance. One of the sectors benefitting the most from this has been the Information Technology, especially involving Computer Science due to its abundance in availability of job openings and package options. The pandemic has quite well proved the job immunity for the Information Technology sector, in a period ravaging most of the job industries and markets as the world moved to online. Automation of industries have again destroyed jobs, but the careers facilitating creation of automation will not run out of demand very soon. At the same time, the pay scale will also remain to a fulfilling extent, thus a good discipline option for pursuing vocational education.
How Would Right To Live Ensure Proper Vocational Education?
Right To Live is willing to conduct vocational training courses for graduated students in Sullia. Here, about 4000 students graduate each year in Sullia, Dakshina Kannada whereas the reality of their employability conveys a different story.
In response to this, Right to Live, in collaboration with Sneha Shikshana Samsthe Initiative, has launched a Vocational Training Program to teach the youth to use computers and improve their employability. Right To Live plans to assign a computer instructor for the same, while Sneha Shikshana Samsthe will be responsible for overseeing regular operations. Right To Live aims to educate registered children from Below-Poverty-Line, who will be trained on basic computers, DTP, Tally and other courses which will facilitate employment for them in their vicinity, with decent salaries ranging at INR 10,000-15,000, therefore facilitating them to live a sustainable and satisfying lifestyle.
Education and access to a decent standard of living is the right of every child in this country. It is our duty as responsible citizens of the country to enable the future citizens of our nature with relevant skills, which serves our national interests. Right to Live urges one and all to come forward and contribute as we try to make a difference by upskilling our future generation.
