How Do We Prepare Our Youth For A Successful Integration Into The World Of Work Lessons From Uttarakhand

As Uttarakhand celebrates its 22nd foundation day , the relevance and need for skill development and sustainable employment has become more critical today than ever before. While the work on this front is in constant progress, the state has taken certain important steps to build a strong skilling ecosystem that will contribute to the larger economic growth of India (in its quest to become a $5 trillion economy by 2025) as well as to further the spirit of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

The state of Uttarakhand is largely mountainous covering approximately 86% of its total land mass. Ever since it was carved out of Uttar Pradesh in the year 2000, the state has seen a visible growth as well as improvement on many of the socio-economic indicators. On the industrialization front, as per the Ease of Doing Business ranking by NITI Aayog, the state has been consistently performing well, largely owing to its industry friendly policies, availability of resources and a stable environment. However, this hasn’t really arrested the challenge(s) associated with the outward migration from the state (especially from the hilly areas). While the Government has undertaken several initiatives targeted towards strengthening the social infrastructure as well as improving the employment landscape in the state, it’s the lack of adequate skills and knowledge that has let this problem to linger on.

The key to addressing this challenge, in a sustainable way, is to have a sound and comprehensive skills ecosystem in place. This shall enable the beneficiaries (or learners) to be equipped with the relevant skills that will allow them or rather increase their chances of successfully transitioning into the world of work. More importantly, it will empower them to continue their growth progression and chart a successful career pathway in the future.

There are interesting lessons from Uttarakhand, a state that has realized this urgent need to have a strong skilling ecosystem in place.

5 areas of intervention that Uttarakhand is working on.

1. Revamping of Government Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in the state by focusing on 4 strategic pillars

TVET institutions enrol a sizeable proportion of learners, especially in the rural hinterlands and mountainous regions. The social acceptance of these institutions is limited and therefore the graduates of these institutes often face significant challenges in transitioning to the world of work.

Uttarakhand is implementing a comprehensive Uttarakhand Workforce Development Project (UKWDP) along with the World Bank and is addressing the transformation of the ITIs through 4 pillars.

a. Infrastructure – ITIs are being benchmarked to the national and global standards. The tools and equipment being installed are of Industry grade allowing the institutes to function as mini-production units, providing practical hands-on skills to the learners. In specific institutes, depending on the trade being taught and the type of industry cluster present in its vicinity, centres of excellences are being set-up in partnership with the industry itself. The focus is to make them as hub institutes that support other learning institutes in its neighbourhood as well as provide a platform to the industry workforce to be up skilled and re-skilled through tailored learning programs.

b. Learning – For the students to be adequately skilled, it’s of utmost importance that their instructors have the right set of knowledge, attitude, and the delivery skills in-line with the current and future needs of the industry. Keeping this in mind, a robust Professional Development Plan (PDP) is in place for the entire staff of the Govt. ITIs (training + administrative staff) in the state. Institutes such as Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Kashipur and Indo-German Tool Room have been brought in to help enhance the leadership, technical skills, pedagogy, and soft skills of the staff (depending on their specific work areas).

For the students, the curriculum revamping is being given a major push coupled with enhanced Industry exposure / internships and apprenticeship promotions to provide more hands-on experience. TVET courses in general are more practical oriented and therefore these Industry aligned interventions are quite important.

c. Digital – The recent pandemic ushered in a digital revolution and exposed the need to have a robust digital strategy in place at the core of any organization’s functioning. The amount of funding that the edtech players received was a testimony to the importance and need for this sector to provide quality learning at scale and speed. A comprehensive digital infrastructure is being built for the ITIs that not only support digital learning and online examinations but also allows for support activities such as administrative works, attendance management, inventory management, leave management and others.

For the decision makers, it provides them a real-time status of various workflows and help them take timely corrective measures and policy improvements.

d. Governance – This is critical to sustainability. An organization that has efficient and clear processes is likely to perform better along with building an environment of trust and transparency. Moreso, it helps to become more resilient to any deviations and unforeseen challenges. The state has undertaken a thorough review and examination of its processes in its quest to become more agile and responsive to the changing requirements.

For example, at the ITI level, student-led institutional structures in the form of Industry Linkage Cells (ILCs) have been set-up to allow for a stronger association with the industry on a continuous basis. So, while such structures exist at the state level, allowing greater flexibility at the institute level, through these ILCs, will bring in improved outcomes for the students as well as allow for customized interventions tailored to the needs and requirements of each institute.

2. Focus on Career Counselling and outreach initiatives

Information asymmetry coupled with lack of adequate career counselling for the prospective students result in catastrophic outcomes. An aspirational mismatch can have devastating outcomes not only for the students but for the Government and society at large. The lost opportunity (or aspirational) cost due to this mismatch will burden us from productivity and financial standpoints. A strong career counselling and aspiration mapping system is therefore very important at or before the point of entry in an institute.

While ITIs and other TVET institutions undertake their own career counselling activity at the time of new enrolments each year, this exercise may not always yield the intended outcomes as mostly the pursuit to fill up the seats takes over the other aspects. In Uttarakhand, the state is focused on a convergence model where-in the Government leverages the strengths of its other entities and institutions to achieve common goals. In Uttarakhand, there is a network of numerous employment exchanges and model career centres in every district that houses a team of dedicated staff whose mandate is to undertake career counselling and placement initiatives and work with the network of schools and higher education institutions in their defined territories. The directorate of training (that manages all the Government ITIs in Uttarakhand) is working closely with directorate of employment in the state to leverage each other’s strengths and in providing career guidance and course related information to the prospective students. Efforts are on to upgrade the capability of the employment exchanges equipping them with the cutting edges tools to help provide an individualized learning and career pathway guidance to the aspirants.

3. Refresher modules in the form of finishing school model

This is a novel concept where-in the students are provided with short and customized modules that helps them perform better as they interface with the employer towards the end of their academic program. The module is a summation of job-ready material consisting of following 8 components – Technical skills, soft skills, Basic Digital Skills, Interview skills, Etiquettes and Grooming, Occupational health, and safety (OHS), Environment & Health Standards (EHS) and Basic Financial Literacy.

A dedicated Skill-Hub, a state of art centre for employability skills in the state, at Sahaspur (district Dehradun) has been set-up by the Government of Uttarakhand to act as a hub institute to design and implement the ‘finishing school model’ for the TVET institutions in the state. Skill-Hub will closely work with the industry and shall carry out targeted trainings for the students and help them secure suitable employment opportunities that are aligned to their individual interests and goals. Skill-hub will address the workforce needs not only of the domestic market but also of the overseas markets. A pilot intervention has already delivered results where-in select students from Govt. ITIs have secured employment in Dubai (UAE).

4. Enabling equivalency between general academic learning and vocational learning

There is an urgent need to draw an equivalency between the general and vocational education to enable vertical and horizontal mobility across different forms of education and learning. Drawing an equivalency will also help mainstream vocational education and bring in the respect and societal acceptance it demands.

Government of India has recently released the draft National Credit Framework (NCrF) policy for consultations. It is surely a welcome step that aims to bridge the divide between the formal, non-formal and in-formal learning streams from primary level all the way to the tertiary level.

In Uttarakhand, the Government has already initiated the process of equivalency exercise in certain areas and will be expanding it further in the future. For example, a class 10th pass-out having acquired a 2-year ITI certificate will be considered equivalent to a class 12th pass-out, similarly, an 8th class pass-out having acquired a 2-year ITI certificate will be considered equivalent to a class 10th pass-out.

TVET system will get a major thrust with this equivalency initiative and help provide greater flexibility and freedom to the students to choose a learning pathway that aligns well their own individual aspirations.

5. Focus on experiential learning through apprenticeships, internships, and life-skills training

TVET education is more practical oriented and on an average a student spends roughly 80% of their time in workshops and remaining 20% time for theoretical knowledge in classrooms. Therefore, the need to engage with the industry is quite important from the employability perspective.

Industry collaborations that include organizing exposure visits for students and instructors, guest lectures by Industry representatives and local entrepreneurs at ITI premises and job fairs at regular intervals are being undertaken at an unprecedented pace. Building a 2-way trust is important for this association to strengthen and to deliver the desired results.

Apprenticeship promotion is another area of focus in the state and the Government is working hard to successfully implement schemes such as the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS).

Government is also examining setting-up dedicated hostels and training facilities within the industry clusters in the state. Given the geographical complexity of the state, it is often difficult for a student (especially those from the far hills) to come to the plains in absence of a proper accommodation and/or transportation facility. This is especially relevant for the female students. It will also help the industry to scout for the right talent as they would have easier access to the student pool. On the other hand, students will be able to better visualize and understand the nuances of a professional life making it easier for them to integrate well when they make that leap from academic world to the professional world.

Life-long learning is another critical area that the state has recognized early-on. With the fast-changing nature of the job market, it is important to instil psychosocial competencies and interpersonal skills (also dubbed sometimes as 21st century skills) that help people deal effectively with the demands and challenges of life. These include (not limited to) Critical Thinking or reasoning, Creativity, Problem Solving, Perseverance, Collaboration and Communication skills. In partnership with experts in the area, workshops are being regularly organized in ITIs for the benefit of the students.

Collectively, there is an urgent need to implement these initiatives and many more in a mission mode. We are a young nation full of aspirations and hope, but we need to be aware that we will not perpetually remain a young nation as the demographic dividend will only last until 2040. We will then become an ageing society as our working-age population (15-59 years) will grow at a lesser rate than the population 60 years & above.

It is time that we recognize the need for skill development and work on creating and improving policies and solutions that augurs well with the changing requirements.