REFLECTIONS IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING A Study by Edulever for Tech Mahindra Foundation 26 November 2015

In mid 2014, TMF commissioned Edulever to conduct a qualitative study on the Vocational Training sector in urban India. The intent was to take a cross-sectional view of what’s happening in the sector, and how this is being perceived by the key stakeholders in the sector. Over the last 18 months, members from the Edulever team have traveled to various cities across India, visited a large number of VT centers, and met with hundreds of people, to gather an array of Reflections on the Sector. This presentation contains a snapshot of what we’ve found out. The detailed report will be released in March 2016.

Stakeholders Youth VT Providers Industry Government

Delhi Jaipur Lucknow Dehradun Chennai Bangalore Hyderabad Vishakhapatnam Pune Indore Mumbai Ahmedabad Patna Kolkata Guwahati Bhubaneswar Locations covered

Scope and Sample  16 cities  5 sectors  Automobile  Retail  ITES  Garment & Textiles  Healthcare  47 VT centers  34 employers; 91 entry-level role profiles  669 youth (375 boys, 294 girls); Method: FGDs.

Key findings ACROSS THE SPECTRUM

INDUSTRY  Overall, the Industry (employers) appears to be unmoved by the Vocational Training sector in any significant way  100% of the employers were aware of Skill Development initiatives, but only 12% look at VT centers as a preferred recruitment option for entry level positions  Continue to rely on in-house, on-the-job training as the main mechanism to train employees  Males preferred in 55 of the 91 job-role profiles (60%); the remaining 40% preferred “Both” – gender stereotypes continue to prevail among recruiters  In less than 15% of the cases was Certification considered an important criteria for selection  None of the employers willing to pay a fee for recruiting from a VT centers

VT PROVIDERS  Islands of excellence in an Ocean of mediocrity…  In meeting with the VT providers, the word that the interviewers perhaps heard the most was: Target. Clearly, the focus of the sector has been on achieving numbers.  Most VT providers believe that they are significantly benefitting the lives of their students. A strong sense of complacency seems to have set in among VT providers.  Average course duration is 4 months (range: 7 days – 1 year)  We asked them, “if you were to get additional funding for your program, where would you like to use it?” 47 out of 47 said yes to, “scaling up the program” Only 3 out of 47 said, “to improve our mobilization process”  Only 25 of the 47 were aware of the National Occupational Standards

YOUTH  In one word: UNSURE  Lack of awareness about career opportunities  Unrealistic salary expectations (Average: Rs. 9400)  51% came to know of the VT center through mobilization efforts, 34% through referrals  Exactly 50% of the youth (333 out of 669) gave “Getting a Job” as their main reason for joining a VT center  53% preferred an “Office Job” while 40% a Field Job. Remaining 7% wished to work for themselves.  Less than 10% gave Remuneration as their #1 motivational factor for seeking a job. Organization repute got the highest votes at 26%, followed by Interest in the Job at 20%.  When asked to comment on what they perceive as the most important quality of a VT center, 52% said “Supportive Trainers” and 42% said “Training Methodology”. Only 5% voted for “Infrastructure”.

GOVERNMENT  Even after 6 years, still Getting its Act Together  Policies and programs largely focused on attaining the unsubstantiated target of 500 million  Efforts marked by multiple ministries and schemes trying to do similar things  NSDC had begun with a lot of fanfare – giving out loans to set up around 5000 skill development centers across the country – but lots of questions now being raised about its approach  Since June 2014, central Government’s focus has been to streamline the entire sector – Creation of the Ministry of Skill Development to subsume all efforts a step in this direction

Thank you!