Skill Development for Tribal Youth and Its Future Strategies

The tribal youth is lowly educated, unskilled and engaged in unskilled/semi-skilled and low

paying occupations. However tribal youth aspire to be engaged in skilled occupations with

better employment terms, higher wage rates, better working conditions, etc. they prefer to

become skilled so as to get better employment or self-employment opportunities.

The study recommended for a comprehensive programme for skill development of the tribal

youth to:

Address youth livelihood aspirations

Promote entrepreneurial activities in tribal areas

Address industry demand for skilled workforce, and

Address Government of India intent in skilling tribal youth for better employability.

The study shows that there are four major sectors in which employability opportunities are

arising in the tribal areas and therefore require skill development among tribal youth.

Green Sector – This is a predominant sector in the tribal areas which is pursued by large

portion of tribal population for livelihood. Green sector includes - Sustainable Agriculture,

Floriculture, Horticulture, Organic Production, Forestry, Animal Husbandry, Renewal Energy

production and distribution, waste management and eco-tourism. These are the growth

sectors of the future and also are sustainable.

Grey Sector – This is the second largest employer of tribal youth. The grey sector includes

the non-farm sector such as manufacturing of the agricultural implements, furniture making,

handloom, wooden art, metal art, construction, transportation, and related activities.

Service Sector – This sector is growing rapidly in the tribal areas too with growth of Indian

economy. The service sector can be sub-divided into Geo-Local service sectors, which are

service provided at a specific point such as repairs, hotel &restaurant, retail trade, transport

service, healthcare, tailoring, fabrication, leather work, beautification, hair cutting, catering,

screen printing, photocopy, videography, etc. and the Go- anywhere service sectors such as

electrician, plumber, mason, carpenter, IT-enabled, services, telecom, financial, and distance

education services, etc., can be adopted particularly in tribal area wherein the tribal

communities have progressed significantly socio economic and educationally. Multi-pronged

strategy is required to promote skills among the youth.

Following key strategies are suggested for skill development of tribal youth

Awareness generation about the vocational education and labour market among the tribal

youth. In addition, orientation and induction of tribal youth on skill development and

employability through organizing awareness camps/sensitizing workshops/achievement

motivation trainings. This initiative needs to be started at high school level.

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Need to evolve various models of skill development such as full or partial subsidy

based/revenue based, residential or outreach training, long and short term vocational

courses and so on to cater to the needs of different segments of tribal and sectors of

livelihood.

Collaborating with existing government ITIs and private Vocational Training

Institutions (VTIs)/ Vocational Training Providers (VTPs) for optimum utilization.

The collaboration could be done for co-creating modules and co-offering the same while

utilizing the existing infrastructure. Along with existing education, focus should be given

on improving the soft and life skills (communication, attitudes, and behavioral aspects

etc.).

Establishing new VTIs at block and cluster levels in tribal areas under PPP model.

External accreditation and certification of the courses to be ensured through external

agencies.

Diversification in Present courses in terms of increasing options – green skills, grey skills,

in selecting trades based on demand of labour market and local economy.

Building a resource pool of vocational trainers who are sensitized to tribal culture and

customs. In addition, build a cadre of vocational trainers from within educated tribal

youth who will be more acceptable to tribal youth in the process of imparting skills.

Use of ICT for vocational education and for employment and self- employment that will

help in wider outreach.

Leveraging existing government schemes for youth skill development and employability.

Sensitizing the industries and their associations and promoting interface between them

and VTIs through creating Employment Exchange Forum in tribal areas to provide

employment to skilled youth.

Assured post training job placement and handholding for establishing micro-enterprises

so as to ensure greater employability of the tribal youth.

The skill development programme of tribal youth should include all four aspects of skill viz.

Life skills, Enterprise Development, Technical skills and Practical training. The skill

development programme should give adequate stress all four aspects of skill development.

For designing of syllabus course content, it must be prepared jointly by the educators and

should be regularly updated. There is need to create balance among various aspects of skill

development like technical skills, management skills, soft skills, and life skills based on the

nature of the occupation.

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Readings

1. National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) Report: Status of Education and

Vocational training in India 2004 – 2005 (Report no.517, 61/10/03). India: Ministry of

Statistics and Programme Implementation.

2. Planning Commission, Draft Report of Working Group on Higher Education, 11 th Five

Year Plan, Government of India

3. Skill Development Landscape in India and implementing Quality Skills Training, ICRA

Management Consulting Service Ltd., August 2010

4. Skills Development – Sector Profile, FICCI

5. Third Annual Report to the People on Employment, 2012, MoLE, Govt of India

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