Skills Training

Skills training is targeted at both youths and parents within the community, with the aim of broadening their scope for employment and self-employment and enhancing their income. A wide variety of training programmes have been initiated, inlcuding electrical wiring, tailoring, screen printing, basket making, carpentry, and weaving.

The skills training programme initiated by DEEDS is aimed at boys and girls who have finished, or are nearing the end of, their education. The programmes provide, at a small cost to the student, vocational skills training that supplements their education and helps them to gain employment or to increase the income of the family. The circumstances of the students and the types of training available are different for boys and girls.

Girls

The type of training undertaken by girls is often dependent on their situation. A gender bias in education often forces girls to leave their studies prematurely, usually by 10 th Standard (though there are signs that this attitude is changing). For these girls there is a full time, one year tailoring programme that also focuses on embroidery and weaving . At the end of the programme the girls are encouraged to sit a government examination in order to gain a certificate in tailoring. This certificate makes them eligible to register at Government employment offices and significantly raise the potential salary that they can hope to earn. For example girls who have been trained at the DEEDS Skill Training Centre are receiving Rs 1200 per month at a local leather factory, twice the salary of unskilled workers. DEEDS also provides work for some of the ex-students making the school uniforms that are issued to the IEC sponsored children and their siblings. Some ex-students have also begun training other women in their villages as an income-generating scheme.

Girls who are still in full time education can also participate in a one-year, part time typing programme. At the end of the programme they are encouraged to sit a Government examination, which is a recognised standard and they receive a certificate if they pass. This certificate makes them eligible to register at Government employment offices. This programme is also available to boys and many take the opportunity to gain a useful vocational skill.

Boys

In the case of boys, training is available in welding, carpentry, two-wheeler mechanics and typing as was noted above. Again the situation of the boys varies, though most of those attending will have finished their education up to 12 th Standard. Some, however, will have dropped out of school early, either due to failure or to economic problems, and will have begun the programme with the encouragement of DEEDS. The costs for these year long courses is very low in comparison to local institutions that offer the same training which is a factor in motivating boys to participate.

Written by ex-DEEDS volunteers, Paul Gunstensen & Stuart Cameron.