Connecting to Industry

It is not only now, it was many decades back that the importance of linking mainstream education with the ability to earn livelihood was felt. But over last many years the need has only grown, and grown with a sense of urgency. It is because of this that courses are being introduced that directly land a student into industrial and market spaces.

The latest in this is the change carried out in the entire framework of education where the emphasis is now on skill based education. The second visible and glaring change in the policy mindset is the emphasis given to the entrepreneurship. The whole emerging start up ecosystem is a witness to this change in the government's priorities. It is because of the changes in the market and an unfolding of a new era of  start ups that the need to orient our children to the changing demands of life at the school level is now finding traction.

It's good that many government demands are now undertaking activities that highlight this need. Not just the government departments, many non-government organisations are also chipping in and doing their bit to handhold students, and launch them into market and industry spaces. What is now needed is the training of teachers and school managements to understand the new content, and also the necessary techniques to deliver it. No matter how hard we try to make frameworks, no matter how much the political leadership talks about it, no matter how much is spent on popularising these concepts, and no matter how many events are held by government and non-government entities, unless schools and colleges deliver the change is not going to happen. The question before the government is that if it has done enough to empower teachers, so that they implement the curriculum in a way that instils required skills in the students.

It is about time our teachers, both in government and private schools, are exposed to trainings that empower them to carry on the necessary changes. If that happens, and our students really get an early age exposure towards skill based education, market understanding, and an appetite for business, we can face the mounting challenge of unemployment.