India is emerging. India is young. India creates its own destiny. A whopping 50 per cent of the entire population is below 25 years and more than 65 per cent below 35. By 2020, it is expected that the average age of an Indian will be mere 29 years as compared to 37 for China and 48 for Japan.
Naturally, demand for jobs is high especially when every year one million youth are out on the job market looking for a way to earn a decent living. Skilling them, providing them with opportunities to earn a dignified living is something that all responsible entities and the Central Government are keeping as top priority. With the emphasis on scaling the talent gap by skilling young Indians is on an all-time high with the current Government, BOSCH is rooting for doing just that with a three-point program.
Bridging talent gap
Bosch offers three training models known as Trade Apprenticeship Program, BRIDGE and Artisan Training at Bosch Vocational Centre.
Mr. Soumitra Bhattacharya, MD & President, Bosch India, observes: “India is facing a huge skills shortage. Those who have degrees are not ready to hit the road because practically all companies have in-house training programs to re-skill them, spanning from three months to say a year.”
Under the Trade Apprenticeship Program, Bosch offers career-oriented programs named Dual Education system. He shares: “It is a comprehensive program where youngsters receive theoretical and practical classes and use our laboratories and machines in the workshop. This is besides getting trained at our factory premises. This education system is taken from the German Dual Education mode which has been ‘Indianised’ over the years.”
The program, offered in nine technical trades, is certified by the National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT).
He adds: “Our German Dual Education system is 20 per cent theory, 30 per cent hands-on and 50 per cent industrial exposure which the students are exposed to in our classes.”
The Trade Apprenticeship Program is a long-term training lasting 1-2 years and more than 3400 apprentices have been trained in the last 53 years since Bosch set its foot in India.
The BRIDGE program, started three years ago, is a short-term job-oriented program of two-month duration. Bosch’s BRIDGE, which stands for Bosch’s Response to India’s Development and Growth through Employability enhancement, takes under its wing school drop-outs from underprivileged background to skill them to make them employment-ready.
Mr. Bhattacharya elaborates: “Currently we have 125 BRIDGE centers and we aim to touch 200 by the end of 2017 across India. This is a program where we give 100 per cent employment. In this program, we ensure that in the last fortnight of the course duration, the students receive internship.”
The third program, Artisan Training, is conducted at two of Bosch’s Artisan Training Centers. This nine-month course is offered at its Bengaluru and Nasik training centers.
He says: “We offer this mid-term artisanship-oriented training in carpentry and electrician courses. The third center will be opened this year in Pune offering training in plumbing.”
Equal partners
Bosch’s BRIDGE is currently running in three States – Karnataka, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.
Mr. Bhattacharya explains: “These centers are not only in the big cities but are also in the districts. These programs are made interesting and comprise communication skills, customer service, personality development, interview skills, job specific skills, and on-the-job-training. We have created multipliers through the PPP mode by signing MoUs with the Governments of these three States. We have set up 25 ITIs in Karnataka, 33 in Maharashtra, and 30 in Rajasthan. We build labs for the ITI studies and a couple of rooms in their premises are used for the BRIDGE program for training purposes. It is a close looped program and you cannot be successful unless you train the trainers. There is a standard program where we train the trainers and then we motivate and retain them so that they stay back and give a new life to these youngsters.”
According to him, the BRIDGE program has trained and placed over 7500 unemployed youth across India in entry-level jobs in the service sector. “These children are without hope. Those who do not get absorbed into BOSCH… spread out into the society. We will touch 10,000 children a year in one year. We are focusing on two things – one, quality skill education comparable with Germany in the Bosch Vocational Center, and a short duration quality training of 2-3 months which we give back to the society.”
He also shares: “We train them but we don’t take over their complete syllabus. Our mentors go there, and because of the quality input we give, both the students and trainers in ITI benefit. We have partnered with the ITIs in different ways.”
Currently, only six per cent Indian youth undergo formal vocational training.
Mr. Bhattacharya further explains: “We have completed one batch of 17 students who have finished training and have been placed in the home and office renovation sector. In India, we do not have a planned artisan training. But in countries like Germany, if you want to be a carpenter, you need to do a 2-3 year course. If you want to be a florist you have to do a one-year course. In India we wanted to bring a sense of pride in getting skilled as an artisan and feel a sense of dignity. That was our primary aim. Secondly, we wished to set a benchmark which then over a period of time can help create multipliers. In this process, we have created three benchmarks of which two are already done and one is in the offing. Now we are seeking good partners who will, together with us, create multipliers and then we want to create a self-sustaining eco-system. Till now, we have been doing it for them for free, but sometime later, it will be with fees but as a non-profit concept, so that we create an eco-system where we provide high quality artisans in areas that need them badly but we don’t have.”
Working towards helping the youth of the country to secure a sustainable future in a sustainable manner, Bosch embarked on this journey 53 years ago. With an approximate spending of roughly Rs. 2 lakh per student annually, Bosch is looking forward to training many more youngsters in different vocations.
Skilling India, the Bosch way
* Bosch’s skilling Indian youth programs are in line with GOI’s target to skill 500 million by 2022 under the ‘Make in India’ program.
* The Bosch Vocational Center (BVC), established in 1961, has won the ‘Best Establishment’ Award 53 times
* Training at BVC is based on the German VET Dual system with 20 per cent theory, 30 per cent hands-on practice and 50 per cent industrial exposure
* Over 200 trainers have been trained under an exclusive Train The Trainer (TTT) program
* Under the Trade Apprenticeship Program, over 3,400 apprentices have been trained
* BRIDGE received the Skill Development Award from FICCI in 2016
* A total of 88 Government ITIs have been upgraded by Bosch
* Two state-of-the-art Artisan Training Centers are being run in Bengaluru and Nasik
* For school children, Bosch runs three mobile science lab vans.