India's missing jobs

So many job positions open, so many people unemployed. This is a peculiar conundrum that dogs the Indian economy today.

Talk to any entrepreneur/business leader and you are likely to hear a gripe about a shortage of skilled candidates for different types of positions. Let me tell you three such stories I encountered last week.


Ashutosh Sharma (name changed) is a senior manager and member of the executive team in a large private sector airline. I spoke to him about the mismatch between several thousand unemployed Indian pilots on the one hand and the high incidence of foreign pilots on the other. He told me first that there is a distinction between those who fly on the right side of a fixed wing aircraft—first officers—and those who fly on the left—captains. While first officers are predominantly from India, he believes that more than 30% captains carry a foreign passport. The Indian aviation industry is growing at an 18% clip per year and is among the fastest growing airline sectors in the world. Each year, India adds about 200 aircraft and this necessitates about 2,000 more pilots. Perfect opportunity, you would think, to have 2,000 high paying jobs made available to Indians every year. And yet, more than 10 years after the take-off of Indian aviation, we are dependent on lateral hires from abroad as captains. Ashutosh believes this is because training is very expensive, Indian candidates who satisfy safety and eligibility standards are too few and a wider ecosystem beyond commercial airlines (such as private, corporate and shared jets) does not exist.

Kiran Patil, vice-chairman of Ghatge Patil Industries, and I frequently interact during intervals at a common board that we sit on. Ghatge Patil, based in Kolhapur, is slowly making its way up the manufacturing value chain. It started as a machine shop 50 years ago and has now diversified into making precision valves for the oil and gas industry in addition to the traditional foundry. Kiran tells me that he has had a devil of a time hiring and retaining contract employees in his foundries. Employees jump to other firms for a small difference in wage. He thinks the change began with the shift in Maharashtra politics about 10 years ago that discouraged migrants and has been compounded by the job guarantee programme.

My brother-in-law, Shyam Sunder, a Wharton graduate, set up a wealth management and financial advisory firm six years ago. He is constantly on the watch for young, energetic financial sales executives and finds the going difficult. With the mushrooming of business schools around the country, a ready supply of young financial product salespersons should logically not be a problem. Shyam thinks there is a problem of “scarcity among plenty”. Individual companies will have to keep tweaking their business models to be able to afford their share of the best, scarce talent, he says.

Of course, these are merely three vignettes of specific situations. One has to be careful not to draw too many generalizations from them. But the fact remains that these are symptomatic of the opportunities for employment that are going abegging.

Our collective understanding of the labour market in India has made marked progress over the last several years. Most agree that the labyrinthine and obsolete web of labour regulations need to be simplified. Received wisdom today correctly identifies better matching, improved skills, financing for training and ultimately universal primary education as underlying drivers of an improved labour market. The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) that I critiqued for speed in a column a year ago has materially increased its pace in handing out loans (though not equity). Slowly but surely some things are happening across labour market verticals.

It is time to focus some attention on the cholesterol choking an improved market within each market vertical. Part of the problem is that it is not clear whose job this is. Take, for example, the development of a broader aviation market in India. Is this the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) job to propose or is it the private sector’s? Can the DGCA function as regulator and champion at the same time? One clear conclusion is that in industries in which there is a regulator, the regulatory function should be fully separated from the industry expansion and promotion function. The government can be made more approachable with this change. A parallel change that the private sector can make is to create and enhance associations and industry bodies for each industry. These associations working with their respective champions in government can then create a better ecosystem for each industry which includes a smoother, less friction ridden labour supply chain.

India will need to make big and small changes to make its labour supply chain smoother than it is. That is the only way to make the demographic dividend a reality.

Narayan Ramachandran is an investor and entrepreneur based in Bangalore. He writes on the interaction between society, government and markets. 

Aviation Industry India - Vocational Skills

Aviation industry soars high, with the growing industry demands, skill-based education plays its part effectively in the changing national environment. There is an urgent need to redefine the critical elements of imparting skill-based education and training to make them flexible, contemporary, relevant, inclusive and creative.

In this direction IESP is a professional training arm of Airawat Group aimed at imparting skill education with a 360 degree approach. IESP has taken the initiative to impart training and education for different forte in such a way that it could benefit the industry by providing the talent and skilled professionals.

 'Institute for Excellence in Services & Planning' was started with an objective to provide well-trained and highly skilled service professionals in the service sector. The IESP leadership and team comprises of domain leaders and education experts from various fields like consulting, hospitality, aviation, retail, healthcare, road safety, infrastructure etc. The collective knowledge and experience of the team provides a realistic training and offer an opportunity for a valuable exchange of ideas and information.

Mr. Gurpreet Khanna, CEO and Director of Airawat Group shares his expertise in the field of aviation and education.

Indiaeducationdiary: Please Brief us About your Educational Qualification and Early Life?

Gurpreet Khanna: My professional career started in the year 2001 working as a team Leader in E-Funds, one of the leading BPOs in India. Qualified as an External student of Economics from the prestigious London School of Economics, UK but dropped out later to kick start my venture, Airawat Aviation Pvt. Ltd., the flagship division of Airawat Group, along with my father, Mr. A.S. Khanna, Chairman & Managing Director, Airawat Group.

In the year 2005, he co-founded Airawat Aviation Pvt. Ltd. followed by the formation of Airawat Group and have been working as the Director and CEO of the Group ever since.

Indiaeducationdiary:  Tell us why you thought to set up Airawat Group instead of other businesses?

Gurpreet Khanna: Mr. A S Khanna the Groups MD and founder having nearly 36 yrs of experience in the Aviation Industry and having undertaken several projects overseas envisaged the need in the Industry. Thus in 2005 started Airawat Aviation Pvt Ltd for Manpower Operations. The Groups core activities involve Manpower Operations, Education, Consultancy and Trading, the later two being relatively new.

With the boom in the Aviation Industry around 2005 came the trend for outsourcing and need for skilled human resource and hence in  2007 we started Airawat Aviation Academy for training candidates to be part of the Industry.

Indiaeducationdiary: What is the business model of Airawat Group?

Gurpreet Khanna: Mr. A.S. Khanna (Ex GM - Air India) leads Airawat group as a Chairman & Managing Director.  The Group consists of Airawat Aviation Pvt. Ltd., Institute for Excellence in Services & Planning (IESP) - the Education & Training division, Airawat Aviation GSE Pvt. Ltd. - the Manufacturing division and Airawat Aviation Inc. (USA).

The Group is being managed by an experienced team comprising of senior professionals, technical domain experts and education experts from various  fields like Project Management, Consulting, Hospitality, Healthcare, Aviation, Retail, Road Safety, Infrastructure etc., bringing in more than 100 man years  of cumulative experience and significant expertise into the company. From a small team of professionals, the organization today has journeyed into being an 800 strong workforce.

The Group's revenue is divided among its skilled Manpower Operations business, Trading, Education & Consultancy.  Currently Manpower operations accounts for 60% of its revenue and education being about 30%. Rest is equally divided between Trading and Consultancy, which are both a recent venture of the Group; however, the management is confident of them growing to a sizable percentage.

Indiaeducationdiary: Aviation sector passing through turbulent time, what is reaction to it and what is your group's planning to counter it?

Gurpreet Khanna: Though the aviation industry has gone through tough times, the need for skill resources in the Aviation sector has certainly not reduced. Infact there are more and more airports opening up. With the aviation sector undergoing tough times, the need for outsourcing is also growing. Airawat Group has also moved into the growing Healthcare & Retail sector for fulfilling the labor requirements at the Airport.

Indiaeducationdiary: Do you see a huge demand-supply gap in the skilled manpower requirement in aviation sector? 

Gurpreet Khanna: The gap is definitely there and more so at the mid managerial level. As the sector grew so fast there is a vacuum created at the mid and higher levels. There is an urgent need to redefine the critical elements of imparting skill-based education and training to make professionals more flexible, contemporary, relevant, inclusive and creative.

Indiaeducationdiary:  Do you think Government is not promoting the sector ?

Gurpreet Khanna: It is a given understanding that you need to have deep pockets to run an airline. The Airline industry is governed by many external factors such as ATF, Security Threats, Epidemics and recession. Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) plays a very important role as it constitutes nearly 40% of operational cost. Governments can support better by reducing the taxes levied on ATF, thus reducing overall cost of operations.

Indiaeducationdiary:  Training institutes are playing crucial role to fill the demands of aviation sector for skilled manpower, how do you see this?

Gurpreet Khanna: In India, the emphasis has been on general education, with vocational education at the receiving end. This has resulted in large number of educated people remaining unemployed. The planners of academic course and the institutions have now recognized this phenomenon. Our aim at IESP is to develop a curriculum that not only ensures job opportunities for students but also fulfils the need of the industry and in the process arrests the huge dropout rate.

I do feel that training institutes need to emphasize more on the intrinsic requirements in the Aviation sector.

Indiaeducationdiary: What all courses offered by Airawat Aviation Academy?

Gurpreet Khanna: The Airawat Group formed the Airawat Aviation Academy (P) Ltd. (AAAPL), in 2007, envisioning the need for well-trained and highly skilled service professionals in the field of Aviation. The growing demand for customer satisfaction in areas of service excellence and planning led to institutionalizing AAAPL's training delivery to the next level. This translated into the creation of the 'Institute for Excellence in Services & Planning (IESP)' in 2011. Hence the organization is no more called as Airawat Aviation Academy.  Institute for Exceleence in Services and planning is catering not only to Aviation, but Retail, Healthcare & Road Safety (for corporate & governments) as well. 

We currently offer 4-6 months courses in all the sectors and will soon be starting the BBA & MBA in these sectors.

Indiaeducationdiary:  So what is the motto behind creation of 'Institute for Excellence in Services & Planning (IESP)'?

Gurpreet Khanna: With training more than 10,000 employees of Airlines, Airports, Allied Services and approx 4000 students recruited in the industry, Airawat has successfully made its mark. Envisaging the need for skilled human resource in the other sectors of the growing service industry, the board decided to re-launch the brand to be able to cater to all other sectors.

Indiaeducationdiary: What kind of placement support does IESP enjoy?

Gurpreet Khanna: Considering the trust the industry has in IESP on account of training so many professionals on not just behavioral but technical aspects, IESP is recognized for quality training by the industry. Hence our students are well accepted in the industry. We maintain an above 90% placement record so far.

Indiaeducationdiary:  Where are your centers located? What are your expansion plans?

Gurpreet Khanna: Our current centers are located at Mumbai & Cochin and we intend to have 20 centers across the country by 2016. Upcoming centers will be at Delhi & Siliguri.

Indiaeducationdiary:  What are your views on the way skills training & development is delivered in India? What do you think needs to be improved?

Gurpreet Khanna: A lot of training is still theory based and that definitely needs to change as skills cannot be obtained by just classroom programs. A deeper understanding and specially the hardships of the industry need to be clearly dealt while training students as this will lead to less attrition for companies in the sector. There is a great requirement to enhance the behavioral skills of the students now days.

http://indiaeducationdiary.in/Shownews.asp?newsid=11188

Skill Development Initiative - Ministry of Labour and Employment - 07.12.2011

Imparting Vocational SkillsIn accordance with the National Policy on Skill Development Government has set a target of skilling 50 crore people by 2022.

Planning and Performance Division, Ministry of Science & Technology has taken initiative to set up an Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research.

A Bill for setting up Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR) has been passed by Lok Sabha on 5/9/2011. The Bill is presently under consideration by Rajya Sabha. AcSIR is being set up as an ‘Institution of National Importance’ focussing on research and imparting instruction in interdisciplinary domain of science and technology through a combination of innovative and novel curricula, cross-disciplinary knowledge, pedagogy and evaluation. The Academy shall primarily focus on research and imparting instruction in such areas as are not ordinarily taught in regular academic universities in India.

Directorate General of Employment & Training, Ministry of Labour & Employment has formulated following schemes for imparting vocational training throughout the country including metros, and providing financial assistance to State Governments/ UTs:

(i) “Skill Development Initiative (SDI)” based on “Modular Employable Skills (MES)” : The objectives of the scheme are to provide vocational training to school leavers, existing workers, ITI graduates, etc. to improve their employability by optimally utilizing the infrastructure available in Govt., Private institutions and the industry. Existing skills of the persons can also be tested & certified under this scheme. 100% Training and assessment cost is reimbursed to successful candidates.

(ii) Upgradation of 100 ITIs with Domestic Funding : under the scheme 100 ITIs from 22 States/UTs were taken up for upgradation into Centre of Excellence at a total outlay of Rs.160 crore. Centre and State share being 75:25.

(iii) Vocational Training Improvement Project: Under the scheme 400 ITIs from 33 States were taken up for upgradation (CoE/ General Upgradation) with total outlay of Rs.1581 crores. Centre and Share being 75:25 (90:10 for NE States). The Scheme inter-alia includes Training of Trainers, innovation, developments etc.

(iv) Upgradation of 1396 Government ITIs through Public Private Partnership: The scheme was launched in 2007-08 to improve the employment outcome of graduates from the vocational training system. Under the Scheme, an Industry Partner is associated with each Government ITI to lead the process of upgradation. An Institute Management Committee is constituted with Industry Partner as its Chairperson and registered as a Society. Interest free loan of Rs. 2.5 cr. is given to the IMC. Financial and academic autonomy is given to the IMC to manage the affairs of the ITI.

(v) Skill Development of 34 Districts Affected by Left Wing Extremism: under the scheme,34 ITIs & 68 Skill Development Centers (SDCs) are proposed to be established with 75% central share and 5340 youth are proposed to be trained in various skill training programmes with 100% central assistance.

(vi) Enhancing Skill Development Infrastructure in North Eastern States & Sikkim : Under the scheme 100% Central assistance is being provided to upgrade 20 existing ITIs and supplement infrastructure deficiency of 28 existing ITIs in all North Eastern States including Sikkim.

The Union Labour & Employment Minister Shri Mallikarjun Kharge gave this information in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today. 

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=78236

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Qualifications or Practical Experience...... What helps in Entrepreneurship & Success in Business

From an IIM aspirant in 2005 to IIM trainer in 2008, Vineet Patawari  started not one, but three ventures: Quickermaths.com, Fireup, and more recently CareerSkills to help students prepare and perform better. Here, he shares his entrepreneurial journey.

A Commerce graduate from St Xavier's College, Kolkata, mathematics was always Vineet Patawari's first love. Plus, he belonged to an entrepreneur family. His father operates a firm in Kolkata that deals with manufacturing and trading of garments. Vineet, the youngest in the family, clearly wasn't much interested in the family business.

After pursuing his CA (Chartered Accountant), Patawari says he wanted to study further. He appeared for the Common Admission Test and scored 99 percentile. Among the several calls he received, Patawari chose to pursue his MBA in finance from IIM-Indore in 2008.

After completing his MBA, Vineet had the option of choosing a seven-figure salaried job offer with J P Morgan or go back to Kolkata and join his family business. But then, Vineet was not convinced to take up either of them.

He had a different dream going for him. In November 2008 CAT became an online exam. He thought that this was just the right time when all the aspirants would switch to web-based learning and like every other visionary entrepreneur, he dreamt of optimising the situation and starting his venture.

While he was still at IIM-Indore, Vineet had started working on an online portal Fireup.co.in, his first entrepreneurial venture.

Fireup was conceptualised to serve as an online portal offering CAT preparation material to aspirants from different parts of the country on a single platform. Right from tips and strategies to mock tests and other useful material, the portal intended to serve as a platform where aspirants could self-train themselves for the exam from the comfort of their homes.

As easy as it sounds, things did not work out as planned. Vineet's partner, who had also invested in the project, was a computer engineer and had agreed to help him manage the coding and maintenance of the website. Since Vineet was a finance graduate and came from a non-technical background, he had to rely on his engineering partner to get the website up in shape. By the time, the website had kind of fired up, he had already lost a year.

That's when he learnt his first lesson -- there is a huge difference between starting a project and getting it operational. Although Vineet had successfully managed the former, he was a few miles away from seeing his dreams materialise. 

His father had already invested a huge sum of money in this project and in the last one year, he had not made enough profits through the business so much to sustain on it. Meanwhile, he also got married in 2009, which further added to his share of responsibilities.

Although he was a visiting faculty at St Xavier's College where he trained students in management courses, it wasn't enough to sustain a family after marriage. He realised that he had to think of a fixed source of income; meaning, he had to start hunting for a job.

Vineet recalls those months as the most challenging and defining moments of his life.

There was disappointment all around. My father was upset, so was I. I had borrowed a huge sum of money from him thinking that if I take it from him, I will be more responsible and accountable about returning it. But I had to keep up my hopes because I had to start from scratch. Believe me, taking these decisions weren't easy at all."

"When I sat down to write my CV and cover letter I realised that besides my summer internship experience of three months, I did not have sufficient work experience to back my qualifications. I mentioned my start-up experience, but I don't think it helped much."

It was then, says Vineet, he relied on the old-boy networking school and called up his IIM batchmates. Thankfully, he found them extremely helpful and co-operative towards him.

"I would browse almost every other job site and send out about 10 to 20 job applications every day. It was tiring and monotonous, but I could not afford to give up," says he.

Since he was based in Kolkata and initially was considering job offers within the city, he realised this constraint was not helping him get a better deal from recruiters. "The salary offered was nothing close to the placement offers I received a year back at IIM. A lot of things had changed for me in that one and a half year."

Vineet had to make a choice and take another risk of moving to a different city. Besides, he had received an offer to work with Irevna, a division of Crisil India Limited for their Chennai branch. The package too was better than what he was being offered in Kolkata. That helped him take a decision. "I did not think twice and immediately took up the offer and moved to Chennai to join them as a Research Analyst," shares Vineet.

Even when he moved to Chennai, the restless soul that he is, he would frequently visit his portal and find out what went wrong about it. He would come up with ideas about how he could bring it back in form.

During his one-year stint with Irevna, he keenly observed the functioning and management strategies in different departments. He also looked up similar sites that were available online and found out what had clicked about them. He was accumulating knowledge and resources from all areas.

"Although I loved working in Chennai, I could not take the entrepreneur out of me. I was constantly working and planning out ideas to revive my portal. I started realising my mistakes," he says.

In a few months, he attended an alumni reunion where he met Vivek Bajaj, another senior from his institute. During one of their conversations, Vivek Bajaj who operates Kredent Academy, an institute that trains students in capital market trading in Kolkata suggested that he join him and help him in developing business for the institute.

"I liked the idea and I felt it was the right time and opportunity for me to move back to Kolkata. When I joined Kredent Academy a year back, it was functioning in an unprofessional manner and demanded a good leader. So, I had to strategise and use my financial and analytical skills to come up with business ideas to improve the economic status."

"It took me about six months to implement the ideas. And I am glad Vivek gave me the independence to take decisions on behalf of the company and made me feel responsible. He always encouraged me to follow my dreams, so, I was motivated to start all over again," quips Vineet.

In September 2011, Vineet co-founded CareerSkills, a vocational training institute that trains students in various vocations and enables them to be job ready, a dream that he calls is an assimilation of several smaller dreams and aspirations put together.

"Since I have closely worked with the education sector, I realised that every industry today is looking at employing people who are skills-ready. And with CareerSkills, I am going to do just that. We are launching tie-ups with several corporate firms who will employ our graduates after the completion of the course."

CareerSkills first batch on accounting skills has already started with 25 students. The serial entrepreneur thinks it's a great achievement for a two- month old start-up. "It's certainly better than my first start up experience," he adds.

Meanwhile, he is working on developing short-term courses in retail and sales, English and basic IT and computer skills.

In this interview, Vineet talks about the inspiration behind his first venture, lessons learnt from failure and shares his ideas on entrepreneurship.

What inspired you to start an online venture for CAT preparation in the first place?

While I was preparing for CAT in 2005, I always focussed on having a solid foundation. Every now and then I used to visit the basics of each topic for different sections of CAT.

I would also maintain a notebook to write down tricks, techniques, basics, fundamentals, and shortcuts for each topic. This process helped me accumulate very useful and time saving techniques for Quants, LR, DI and at times for English too. This structured approach helped me immensely in the preparation process and eventually to crack the exam as well.

The recorded knowledge also encouraged me to build a platform where I could help others too. This led to the birth of FireUp.co.in, my first venture – an online CAT preparation portal and subsequently QuickerMaths.com – For Vedic Mathematics and other quick mathematics methodologies.

What were your greatest learnings at IIM-Indore? What tips would you like to share with future aspirants?

I read a lot about life at a b-school before going to Indore. In my opinion, none of these articles were even close to the real life scenario at IIM Indore or for that matter any b-school.

A full time residential program like MBA with the immense academic rigour of an IIM and enormous scope to show your creativity and talent ignites your intellectual faculties and makes you ready for the cut-throat competition in the life ahead. However, the outcome totally depends on you.

You could end up being as dull post MBA as you were at the beginning that is if you choose to be. But life at the IIM will be full of highs and lows – you will have days of excitement and days of disappointment.

To have a fruitful stint at a b-school you need to be a self-starter, quicker learner and fun loving person. You have to be involved in as many events, competitions, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities as possible and at the same time you also have to balance them with your studies. That's where the key lies in.

How do you define success?

My favourite author Dale Carnegie says, "Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success"

If I were to talk about my own story, FireUp, my first venture was not a success story. The discouragement and dejection was unbearable. I had to take up a job after trying for one and half year. However, I had strong urge to come back. During the one year I spent in Chennai doing the job, every single day I was exploring new options and new opportunities.

How did you cope up with failures? What motivated you to start all over again?

Exposure to the world where opposites like cooperation and competition, frustration and exuberance, highs and lows of life co-exists in each moment was a life changing experience.

Would you like to share some life lessons for MBA aspirants and young readers?

I believe stepping outside of your comfort zone will put things into perspective from an angle you can't grasp now. Motivation comes in short bursts. You need to act while it's hot.

Initially, when people told me that one must gain some professional experience before becoming an entrepreneur, I did not understand what they meant, but today, I think I have realised it the hard way. So, I would say that if you have an idea or a dream, you cannot be emotional about it. You need to consider the economic viability of the project as well.

Kindly share some tips for young entrepreneurs.

Well, when you are entrepreneur, you must guard your dreams and passions very well. There will be numerous instances, which will influence you to bend your dreams, but you need to be determined about pursuing it.

You may fail in your initial attempts, but you must not just learn from your failures. You must learn to bounce back and have the courage to fight for your dream.

Do not get discouraged by what people tell you. Be prepared to take risks. There is no gain without risk. But do not expect immediate success; you need to be patient and be open to adapt to the demands of the situation.

Besides, I think you need to be conceptually clear about your idea of starting a venture and the idea has to be original and practical. Money will eventually follow.

http://www.rediff.com/getahead/slide-show/slide-show-1-career-he-shunned-a-seven-figure-salary-to-become-an-entrepreneur/20111123.htm

Vocational education revamp on cards: Ministry

With an aim to equip its youth with required skills the growing economy needs and give a competitive advantage to its workforce on the global front, the government is set to re-structure Vocationalisation of Secondary Education programme, a centrally sponsored scheme.

The scheme launched in 1988 was aimed to provide vocational courses in general schools with two- year duration at the higher secondary stage (XI and XII). A Working Group, set up by Planning Commission, has  recommended that now the scheme should be re-structured to provide vocational courses at secondary stage (IX and X). The report would be put before Steering Committee on Education for consideration to formulate 12th five year plan (2012-17).

Since its inception, about 10,000 schools have been covered under the scheme with an intake capacity of about 10 lakh students across the country.

The National Mission on Skill Development, under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister of India, had set a target of preparing 500 million skilled persons by 2022. On the other hand, it is expected out of  approximately 75 to 80 million jobs  created in India over the next 5 years, 75 per cent will require vocational training to enhance the employability prospects.

But, there is a huge ‘skill gap’ both in terms of quality and quantity. At present, only 2 per cent of the work force in the age group 15-29 has undergone formal vocational training and eight per cent have had non-formal vocational training.

Considering the magnitude of the challenge, Ministry of Human Resources has proposed a National Vocational Education Qualifications Framework (NVEQF) to promote vocational education in the country. During consultations on development of the NVEQF, States and other stakeholders had strongly recommended that vocational education needs to be introduced from Class IX, as against the present system of introduction at Higher Secondary levels.

Experts in the report observed that drop out rate rises substantially after Class VIII and further more after Class X. Therefore, there is a need to start vocational education from Class IX itself. It would also retain more children in the secondary and higher secondary levels.

The report says the country needs to establish 6,000 new vocational schools. This will require Rs 14,18,678 crore over next five years and the central state share will be worked out as follows: Civil construction 75:25; Teachers salary 90:10; Other expenses 100 per cent.

It further recommends that separate vocational schools are to be discouraged since the effort is to mainstream vocational education, which means sections in existing schools offer vocational courses. Further, a Model Vocational Schools should be set up in each district to serve as a mentor for other schools.

It also recommends that National Council of Teacher Education should revise teacher education syllabi to include a separate paper on Vocational Education in B.Ed. and M.Ed. programmes for teacher preparation.

Vocational education has been accorded high priority in the National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986. The NPE, 1986 set the target to cover 10 per cent higher secondary students under vocational courses by 1990 and 25 per cent by 1995. However, an enrolment of only about five per cent has been achieved.

Into thin air? Vocational Education Where It Matters

'Demographic dividend' has got to be the most overused term while describing the future of India and our potential to become an economic super-power. Are we talking about our youth who are graduating from a broken education system today (if they haven't dropped out that is) and remain largely unemployable?

Once his neighbours came across Mulla Nasruddin scattering some powder around the village perimeter. “What are you doing, Mulla Nasruddin?” they asked. “I am keeping away the tigers,” the Mulla replied. But there are no tigers here!” the others exclaimed. “Yes, it’s very effective, isn’t it?” the Mulla said.

If there is one phrase that has suffered from overexposure in recent debates on the future of India, it is ‘demographic dividend’. What was seen as a Malthusian nightmare less than 2 decades ago has now acquired an altogether shining glow. The fact that 40% of India’s population is below the age of 30 is touted by many as one of the key drivers that will help India storm her way to economic super-power status in the next 10 years. 

There are also strong counter voices, now increasingly voluble. They point to the fact that the education system in this country is broken. Less than 20% of the children from the economically disadvantaged sections successfully get through high school, dropout rates are as high as 40% in several states and even those who struggle through to a school pass possess very poor communication, knowledge and analytical skills. There is a massive employability gap with less than 2 in 10 being found fit for employment, especially in technical fields. And this despite an economy that seemingly displays a voracious appetite for skilled and not-so-skilled jobs. 

Where then will the youth go? Will the dividend not then prove a tinder-box as young people – especially from poorer backgrounds – become increasingly disillusioned with the system that does not give them a real chance in life? Even when they see so much conspicuous consumption around them?

I believe both voices have some salience. The present moment in our demographic history is one which is pregnant with immense potential in our young that can be unlocked, but equally with the abyss of social fracture that could result otherwise. The need for a bridge that will take us over the impending chasm into a better India for all of us over the next decades has never been more urgent.

In the minds of the mandarins in our corridors of power, in industry and amongst many policy planners and NGOs, the emerging consensus is that this is best done through the mechanism of vocational education or skill development. 

The arguments for a robust vocational education system are many and compelling; this is something that has withstood the test of time in the developed world and has proved to be a powerful engine of progress in these countries for many decades. But the devil as always lies in the details.

There is so much talk, discussion, debate; so many seminars, workshops and conclaves on the subject by governments, the World Bank, think tanks, NGOs, etc., that we are all a bit like Mulla Nasruddin. Powder is being scattered everywhere, a lot of sound and fury, but with little or no thought to specific outcomes or issues that bedevil the implementation of even simple vocational skill programmes on the ground.

Let us consider the nature of the problem. 

When are we to provide vocational training? Most people would agree that the target audience should be youth in the age group of 15-25 years. Currently, the population in this age group is around 250 million. This is a staggering number by any standards. How does one even begin to look at imparting vocational skills to a small part, let alone the whole, of such a multitudinous universe? 

First, where are the instructors? If there is serious shortage of skilled teachers even of the vanilla type for math and science, finding the welders, machinists, carpenters, electricians, beauticians, gardeners, English language trainers, computer skills instructors and multiple others to handle good vocational skill instruction is a task that boggles the mind. There has been an enormous amount of work in developing content – especially in the electronic format. The Modular Employable Skills (MES) programme has done much work in this area as have multiple others including the National Skills Development Corporation; but in the context of the problem, it presents a Mulla Nasruddin type of diversion, a sort of substitute solution to the main challenge. 

Compared to conventional subjects, vocational training is all about learning by doing. The course content as designed and printed on paper can certainly serve as a guide, but can never substitute for hands-on training. In other words you cannot become a carpenter or electrician or beautician by mugging the stuff; you actually have to do it and do it―again and again. This requires physical facilities: training equipment, work benches and the like, of course, a competent trainer. 

In India, aided and government schools do not possess even basic labs to teach science. Book content is a poor substitute for practical science as we can see from the very poor quality of science students that are graduating each year from schools. This is even more the case for vocational training (imagine a carpentry graduate who has learnt wood planing or shaping through a book) and presents a real infrastructure challenge, and that constitutes the core of the second problem. 

The third difficulty stems from the numbers. Indian classes especially in poorer schools are very large; each section typically has upwards of 50-60 students and most grades have 3 to 5 sections. This is a reality that can confound most vocational training initiatives which require smaller, modular classes where students can work on the equipment and actually learn by doing projects. 

Finally, there is the complex amalgam of factors relating to poverty, home environment, social pressures and so on to which teenage children are especially susceptible. The child that drops out of the schooling system due to any of the above can rarely be brought back into training. In plain economics, they are already in the unorganized job sector and leaving it for vocational training constitutes a significant opportunity cost for them and their families. In other words, even free training has a cost that many are unable or unwilling to bear. 

What then are we to do if we are to make an impact on a set of problems of this magnitude? Winston Churchill once wrote, “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” In our context perhaps we ought to say, ‘Never let schooling interfere with skilling.’

1. The first place to start is clearly the school where we can formally allow a parallel stream of vocation education in the 9th and 10th standards. Students who are weak academically but have other strong abilities ought to be given a choice and counseled on this path, which will have academic elements, especially English and Math, but in a simpler form.

2. Each school will set up 1 or 2 dedicated spaces for workshops of the simplest kind. If this is not possible in the school premises due to space constraints, it can be done in a rented premise close to the school. The equipment will be basic and can cover the essentials of main trades for both girls and boys.

3. Next, a local network with industry, restaurants, retail establishments, and technical institutions/colleges in the area needs to be established so that an element of practical shop-floor training can be brought into the curriculum and other resources leveraged. 

4. Finally, a trade certificate could be issued by the state or the school once the student has successfully completed the vocational training requirements. This may not hold the same status of an SSLC but will be far better than letting the child drop out with nothing to show for his or her future. 

The above model will use as faculty people who will be drawn from the extensive pool of unorganized labour in this country. In the construction industry for example, we have many carpenters, plumbers etc., who are skilled and experienced, but not educated in the conventional sense. If these people are brought in as faculty and seconded to a vocational training faculty from the school who handles the formalization of the instruction, there could be a complete win-win for both the student and the trainer.

The above prescriptions obviously sound simpler than they will be in practice. There could also be many other possible solutions. But it is clear that we need to think laterally and with an eye to the ground. India is at a cusp and the situation demands a response that is as fast and effective as we can make it. Our children’s future demands nothing less.

The author is a research & innovation entrepreneur and was Chairman of CII Karnataka during 2010-11.

This article was published in Prayas, a Sattva eMagazine focused on social protection issues, in the 3rd Edition: Bridging the Gap.

Everonn may receive $100 million investment - Carlyle Group and New York Capital Partners - largest PE deal in education

Everonn Education, India’s largest technology-enabled education firm, is getting ready to enroll more global marquee investors.

Two months after the Dubai-based Varkey Group came on board, global private equity majors — Carlyle Group and New York Life Capital Partners — are in advance talks with the company to pick up a stake, said two people following the development. Once completed, it could be the largest private equity (PE) investment in the Indian education space till date.

According to these sources, the initial diligence is over and negotiations are underway to formalise the final deal structure, which may see an investment of over Rs 500 crore ($100 million) through a combination of primary and secondary market transactions.

Everonn’s promoters are likely to dilute their stake in the company and may even issue fresh shares to these two new financial investors. Carlyle and New York Life Capital are likely to invest in the listed company – Everonn Education — and may also pick up strategic stakes in the underlying subsidiaries Everonn Medical Education and Everonn Skill Development.

Everonn Skill Development is a joint venture between the company and National Skill Development Corporation, which has a 27 per cent stake. Everonn owns the residual 73 per cent.

An email to Everonn Education remained unanswered. When contacted, Devinjit Singh, managing director, Carlyle Asia Partner told Business Standard, “I cannot comment on specific transactions.”

New York Life Capital Partners spokesperson did not respond to an email query.

According to shareholding data of September, the total promoter shareholding in the company stands at 42.28 per cent. Of which, SKIL Infrastructure, promoted by Nikhil Gandhi, is the largest shareholder with 20.83 per cent stake.

P Kishore, the  founder of the company, has 8.52 per cent, show data available with the exchanges. In September, following Kishore’s arrest for bribing a tax official, Varkey Group, a $2.5-billion education company that runs Gems Education brand, agreed to buy a strategic 12 per cent equity for Rs 138 crore. They were to subsequently up their stake to 38 per cent via an open offer. The offer is now expected to be launched early December after the earlier plans got deferred.

Everonn stock closed at Rs 321 per share on Thursday, down four per cent. Its current market cap stands at Rs 617 crore.

Everonn, known for its pioneering work in e-learning solutions for schools and virtual classrooms, has had a series of financial investors like Blackstone, Reliance ADAG Group and New Vernon in its 20 year history. New Vernon India is still an investor with a 5.12 per cent stake. However, most of them have pared their stake since Everonn’s founder was arrested on bribery charges.

Interestingly, Carlyle, too, had burnt its finger in the Indian education space before. In 2000, Carlyle Asia Venture Funds had acquired 15 per cent stake for $2.5 million in Educomp Datamatics. But in 2005, it exited making losses of 94 per cent.

Everonn serves schools with web-based classes as well as the competitive exam guidance. Its customer base includes over eight million students through 10,139 learning centres across 27 states.

The Indian education sector has of late seen a spurt of PE investments. In 2011 alone, private equity and venture capital investors have pumped to $93 million in 10 education companies.