Driving employability and job creation through education
Thursday, 14 November 2013 00:50
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By Cheranka Mendis
Chaired by Pitman Training UK Director Roy Newey, the session on education and skill development highlighted the importance of vocational training in preparing youth to meet the demands of the world.
Higher Education Mini-ster S.B. Dissanayake noted that the Government places heavy emphasis in augmenting human capital formation and development in the education sector.
With the intention of moving towards being a high middle income economy, large investments have been injected into this sector. There is scope for investors to support in this regard. “The Government is also focusing on nanotechnology and the building of IT parks, as well as sports related development,” Dissanayake said.
Opportunities in Sri Lanka
Even though the country has established a free education system that caters to students from primary to university level, there is great scope for investments to take place in the higher education sector. Medicine, surgery, nursing, engineering, textile and design, and IT are subjects that are in high demand amongst local students.
Challenges in India
Centum Learning India Chief Operating Officer Raj Dravid noted that in India’s case, 72% of the population reside in rural areas, earning less than US$ 20 per day. However, vocational training could bridge this disparity as these are the people who need employment, but it is often looked down upon with more importance placed on graduates, even if they do not have the necessary practical skills.
Listing out some of the key challenges for the sector, Dravid noted that in India, there are too many players who cause disorder in such instances. Bringing quality into vocational training, lack of good quality trainers, a need for innovative approaches to training, migration related issues, combining technical training with life skills, poor national curricula and standards, and technology related issues are some of the major barriers.
Importance of apprenticeship
SEMTA is a charity run by a UK industrialist, providing a stable approach in apprenticeship training and Apprenticeship Director of the organisation Bill Twig added that the industry recently called for a radical review of the apprenticeship program which had placed more emphasis on knowledge and literacy. The body has come up with a seven level system with links between every level of apprenticeship, adding a home-grown approach towards student apprenticeship, enhancing the quality of the program.
This also gives apprentices two years of on-the-job training. “It is important to have a national apprenticeship program,” Twig said. “These are not second class options but a choice for the people. People should not see this as an option for those who have failed in other areas in life.”
Deliver more!
Microsoft has invested US$ 2 million in transforming the education sector in Sri Lanka last year.
Expressing that education today has gone from being a manufacturing-focused one to a more problem solving, out-of-the-box, innovation-led sector, Microsoft Cooperation Singapore Education Director Asia-Pacific Region Beth Watson noted that authorities and those in higher positions must deliver more when it comes to students and education.
“Skills required today are more complex and are bent towards communication and expertise. What we include in the programs and curricula must resonate what is required,” Watson said.
One in four IT jobs in the world remains vacant today due to the lack of professionals. “This is the way the future is being moulded.” Microsoft has implemented many programs with governments to meet the needed level to “enable students to go anywhere with the right qualification.”
Create awareness
Repro India Ltd. Chairman Vinod Vohra added that the exploitation of technology has levelled the playing field globally, in which education and skills development play a crucial role.
“Educational skills lead to employability. The challenge is to create awareness. During the last decade, we have witnessed a marginal improvement in vocational training and various learning, which leads to quick employability. Governments must drive this further in their efforts towards creating an inclusive growth model,” Vohra said.
Commonwealth view
Adult unemployment rate stands at 4.8% but the unemployment rate of youth is three times higher, Commonwealth Secretariat Regional Director Amiul Islam Khan said.
“Many young people are out of work and training. This is not contemporary or fitting.”
He expressed that the issue is that the training programs at present do not necessarily focus on a mindset change or behavioural components. From the supply side, demand is often ignored.
“We believe we need to enable young people so that they can be aware and give them choices in life and the opportunity to make a free decision in leading their lives,” he said. “What we need to do is build an enabling system to get them to think critically and give them a choice, so that they manage themselves and make decisions.”
Khan said: “The issue with youth is a mainstream issue and must be considered at length. New entrepreneurship and employability must be promoted, as should innovation, restructuring education and training, revitalising local community growth and productivity must be focused upon.”
