The public-private partnership has seen the establishment of a training centre for computer hardware training at the Swami Vivekananda Rural Community College (SVRCC) in Puducherry with support from Dell Technologies. The ‘Dell Kaushak Kendra’ will impart vocational skills training to youth at SVRCC who comprise of school and college drop-outs and from disadvantaged backgrounds. In a blended dual-mode approach, the year-long diploma programme entails nine months of classroom training and three months of hands-on computer hardware laboratory training.
Also read: The Skill, Re-skill, Up-skill Mantra
Combining theoretical knowledge with practical application is indeed the need of the hour as a mere classroom-based training experience has little real-world applicability. The heavily theory-based skills training approach of a vast majority of training programmes in the country has been a key contributing factor to the crippling skills-jobs mismatch.
Training programmes targeted at school drop-outs are especially laudable. Ministry of Human Resource Development figures state that drop-out rates peak at the secondary education level. Children leaving formal education without qualifications or skills has been one of the main causes of a growing NEET (youth not in employment, education or training) category – growing at around 8% each year. Hence, early exposure to vocational skills training within the schooling system is vital in providing a non-degree alternative career path to millions of youth.
