The demand for skilled workers is great in India. However, the quantity and quality of many work related training institutions is insufficient to meet the demands of the labour market. A vocational education, as found in Switzerland, combining practice and theory, is rare in India. How can young people be best prepared for the job market?
One of the success stories from Usthi’s professional skills training project shows how crucial practical experience is for the young people in the project:
Rani and Sahasra* live in the megacity of Hyderabad. Without education, it was impossible for them to find a job. They heard about Usthi’s professional skills training and met on the beautician course. Having successfully completed the training, they both found jobs in a well-known beauty salon. However, the long working days did not leave Rani and Sahasra enough time to look after their children. They had always dreamt of starting their own business to support their families but, at the same time, they also had a certain reticence towards the responsibility this would entail. Their conversations about the challenges kindled an idea. The assurance of mutual support emboldened Rani and Sahasra recently to open their own parlour together.
“Today, the business permits us not only to have flexible working hours, but also our income allows us to send our children to school.”
Rani, graduate of a professional skills training
The practical experience gives the young people self-confidence and increases their chances of being able to enter the job market. Employment with fair working conditions allows young women like Rani and Sahasra to become financially independent. In the long term, the project contributes to reducing youth unemployment and poverty and also has a positive effect not only on the graduates but also their families.
*Names have been changed for privacy reasons.
