Carlin Carr, Bangalore Community Manager
India and China have been saddled side by side in the race for rising economic superpowers. While China has edged ahead on many fronts, India’s large youth population provides a massive potential. “An estimated 1-1.2 million new workers will join the labor market in South Asia every month over the next few decades — an increase of 25-50% over the historical average,” says a World Bank report. Job creation needs to match this upcoming labor force. A new government initiative in India, the National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC), has prioritized providing this generation with the necessary education and training so the country can reap the benefits of its demographic dividend.
While many initiatives have been launched under the NSDC, focusing on building a range of technical and artisanal capacities, an organization in Bangalore focuses on skill-building alongside “potential realization” initiatives. The Promise Foundation‘s research has found that while lack of skills is a major factor that contributes to underemployment or lack of employment with youth, so too does their confidence in their own abilities and job prospects. The organization’s unique method applies behavioral sciences to economic and social development.
The Promise Foundation believes that early intervention is necessary, and has developed three core programs to foster personal and professional growth from a young age:
- Stimulation Intervention Programs focus on early childhood care and education for children deprived of quality experiences for social, emotional and cognitive development.
- Programs for Assisted Learning is an accelerated learning program targeting children who are at risk of failing and dropping out of school.
- Work Awareness and You addresses the career development needs of high schoolers and helps them find answers to questions of planning for fruitful employment in the future.
The three-pronged approach to preparing youth for the job market takes a more holistic and long-term perspective on the need to develop human resources for India. In a recent training in Bangalore, youth in attendance were taught core work attitudes (punctuality, reliability, safety, etc.) and were also part of a program to increase their skills. “Almost all trainees were able to secure better jobs and went on to complete formal education,” says the organization.
The future remains to be seen. Skills training has become a government priority in the country, with a substantial budget allocation and a new uniform curricula for the various skills training initiatives under the NSDC. Yet as the Promise Foundation’s research has shown, there’s much more to developing human resources than just skills, and only when those issues are addressed will this generation’s potential be fully unleashed.
Photo credit: One Laptop per Child