Skill development for school dror outs to alleviate poverty

Abstract

At the Millennium Summit at United Nations in the year 2000 the world leaders have agreed to achieve eight (8) Millennium Developmental Goals (MDGs) by year 2015. Top priority of the list is the goal to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger from the world. There are 1.2 Billion people in the world living under poverty threshold of US$ 1.25 per day per person. India is home to one third of (270 Million) people who live below $ 1.25 per day per person as of the year 2012. Dr. Anirudh Krishna of Duke University and many have done extensive study on incidence of poverty and narrated ways to escape poverty. There is substantial evidence that education can empower poor to escape poverty. Like knowledge, Skillset is intellectual capital. Global development is moving towards knowledge economy where role of quality work force is substantial. Even though schooling up to 10 th standard is free in India, around 42% students dropout before reaching VIII class. The dropouts are mainly from poor socioeconomic background. The drop outs contribute to household income by doing manual labor, but on the long run, they remain as daily wageworkers and fall in the trap of poverty and the saga of poverty continues for generations. Skill development and vocational training is not part of the school curriculum in India. Hence school dropouts will remain as unskilled and languish as daily wage labor.12.8 million unskilled new worker enters the labor force every year in India. Only 10% Indian work force has some skill hence most unproductive. The seating capacity of the vocational education institutes is 4.6 million only including training capacity of 19 ministries. Domestically there is going to be skill gap of 274 million in various sectors by 2022.It is basically un-employability rather than unemployment. National Skill Mission headed Prime Minister has set of target skilling 500 Million workers by 2022 which calls for 70 million capacity per year. This mammoth target needs Industry involvement and scaling up infrastructure tuning the relevant Policies. This Paper studies the availability, affordability, and accessibility of skill development facilities in India particularly for the school dropouts. This paper also studies the methodology adopted in Germany, China and USA. China has undergone phenomenal economic growth in past few decades and removed 600 million poor out of poverty in 30 years. China has enacted Vocational Education law in 1996 to involve private industry in skill development and built vocational institutes with m illions seating capacity. Germany, the world leader in vocational training, has brought dual education law in 1969 itself which calls for the active involvement of industry.Given the rare demographic dividend, expected growth rates of 8-10% in the next couple of year, to ensure the success of make in India , to bridge the domestic and global skill gap, India has to scale up and speed up the skill development like China and Germany. In parallel, India has to groom the youth from vulnerable sections to acquire skills, which can offer opportunities and steady income to escape poverty