No Job is a Mean Job,
if You and Add Meaning to It
I attended a SKILL SUMMIT, organized by CII at
Bangalore, a few years back. There were renowned speakers from different
industries, government agencies and training field as well, who threw light on
the subject “shortage of skilled labour.“ Some interesting points emerged out
of the summit.
According to a Survey, it says that, in the year
2020, the world will face a shortage of 57million skilled workers and only
India and China, because of its huge population would have the capacity to
cater to this demand. However, the irony is as of now, only 10% of the
India’s workforce comes under the category of skilled workers. This is
comparatively very low, to most countries were 60 to 80% are skilled work
force. Korea tops the list with 96%.
The greatest strength of India today is that, we
have about 55% of the population who are below the age of 30, but the big
question is what type of aspirations these students have? A good number of
graduates pass out of Indian colleges every year, but still there seems to be a
shortage of skilled work force in the country or rather there is a mismatch of
the needed talent versus the available human resource, and hence the gap. Now,
how do we bridge the gap?
Let us say you go to a high school and ask the students there, what they want to be. You would find that 7 out of 10, would either say engineer or doctor, and the other 3 would say something different such as a lawyer, policeman, teacher, pilot and so on. This is a clear indication that a majority of our students are glued to the idea that no other profession is worth pursuing.
It is either the influence of the parent, teacher
or society that plays a strong role in his decision process. It is not a matter
of willful choice, but a matter of acceptable choice. Now we talk about
shortage of technical workforce like the mechanic, electrician, plumber,
welder, gardener, carpenter etc.
In advanced countries like USA, Europe, Japan and
Australia, 80 to 90% of the youth opt for Vocational Educational Training,
whereas in India the number of students who opt for vocational training is very
low. In India, there is not much emphasis laid on this, in our current system
of education. In India today, an ITI Student is looked down upon and does not
get due respect. This attitude has to change. If this attitude continues, the
country would witness a steady increase of unemployable graduates, in the days
to come. With the migration of hand skilled workers to knowledge workers, we
are in a crisis.
It is recommended that students should be exposed to vocational training right from their 6th Std. They have to learn to work with tools. Tools, like toys may fascinate their interest. This may create an interest for them to pursue a vocational training of their chosen field of interest, rather than having to restrict to conventional academic choices. The parents have to play a supportive role by accepting the choice of their children, rather than trying to brand them to a desired profession.
It may be a surprise for you to know that only 7% of the Indian working population is educated up to Xth Std. The balance 93%, are either less educated or uneducated. But it is this 93% who work in the farmlands cultivating the food we eat, the weavers who make the dress to wear, and construction labourers who build the houses, we live in.
Let us treat everyone’s job with respect and consider no job a mean job. Let us be grateful to them and treat them with dignity. Just imagine, if not for them, what would we do?
D. Senthil Kannan,
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