Lend-A-Hand India (LAHI)
Young people need to be equipped with fundamental skills to navigate the future of work. Secondary education can, and should, be an important gateway through which youth can acquire these skills, such that young women and men can fully realize their potential in the community and economy.
In India, over 50% of college graduates are unemployable. At the same time, 75% of India’s jobs are projected to be skill-based by 2025, while currently, only 7% of the population receives some kind of vocational education or training. This apparent disconnect between the education system and quality post-secondary pathways hurts young people and holds back the economy.
Girls and women acutely experience these challenges at every step: less than 10% of girls choose non-traditional courses – perceived as masculine – that generally lead to higher-paying careers. The unemployment rate among women in India is more than double that of men with similar qualifications. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the challenges as women have experienced a more significant loss of employment, increased unpaid work, and a slower recovery rate from unemployment.
Lend-A-Hand India is taking its decade-long experience – of integrating practical based multi-skills training into classrooms to equip girls and boys with employability skills – to support State governments in India that are eager to embed and scale this approach through their secondary school systems. Leveraging the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020), LAHI will work with government partners and other stakeholders to transform education and training models, bringing quality demand-relevant Skills Education into mainstream secondary education, building strategic partnerships, and aligning system-level funding to unlock this much-needed support.
Through this initiative, Lend-A-Hand India is working in close partnership with the government of three States in transforming their education systems to equip at least 1 million youth – including 500,000 girls and young women – with fundamental employability skills, with at least 200,000 (50%) of those who finish grade 12 obtaining and remaining in employment. Building upon these deep engagements, Lend-A-Hand India will also codify and scale its approach to additional states in diverse geographical locations in India, creating a blueprint for realizing the Skills Education commitment in the NEP 2020.
“Lend A Hand India (LAHI) is thrilled to partner with Co-Impact to work with the state governments to embed and scale vocational education through their secondary school systems making secondary school education practical and relevant. Mainstreaming of vocational education within the school education is the core of Lend a Hand India’s strategy. It is imperative to focus on developing the government’s capacity to deliver along with the demand side (employers)especially with a focus on gender equity. Such an approach needs long-term commitment from all the stakeholders including the donor community. The 6+ years partnership with Co-Impact will enable LAHI to take a long-term view and onboard various stakeholders, especially for a diverse and huge country like India. This system change initiative also enables LAHI to change the narrative about vocational education in the Indian Society and make it desirable for all.”
Sunanda Mane – Co-Founder & Executive Director, Lend A Hand India
