Deepalaya - Enabling Self-Reliance

Chameli Dewan Institute For Vocational Training

BRIEF PROFILE
India suffers from a high unemployment rate, especially among young people. The International Labour Organization estimated that unemployment among young people between the age of 15 and 24 is up to twice as high as among the general population. Recent years have also seen a simultaneous development of growing unemployment alongside even ever-higher numbers of educated jobs seekers. Infact, of 27 unemployed individuals in 2000, 60% were highly educated.
Thus pursuing higher education, the young from the villages/ slums, who are likely to need employment and opportunities to raise their incomes, don’t necessarily benefit. Vocational Training is an option to increase the chances of getting a job. The provision of such vocational trainings is to serve as a valuable function in reducing the mismatch between the demand and supply of jobs, which is noticeable today.

Deepalaya started the Vocational Training Centre at the Deepalaya School in Kalkaji Extension, out of the realization, that majority of the students of Deepalaya Schools cannot pursue a long academic career for various reasons. There was, therefore, a great need to equip several semi-educated boys and girls in the slums and resettlement colonies of Delhi, to earn their livelihood.
The Vocational Training Centre started with two trades in 2000– Computer Basic and Beauty Culture – with Deepalaya’s own fund. Because of a generous support from the Dewan Foundation, new trades could be added. Currently, the Chameli Dewan Institute for Vocational Training is providing training in Computer hardware/ Software, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration, Beauty culture, Tailoring & Fashion designing, Photography & Videography, Electricals and Electronics. An additional class of 3 hours duration on spoken English is also imparted every week. In the entire streams, weekly test are taken up on every Monday. Monthly test are additionally taken up on every last working day of the month.
The courses are structured to compliment the needs of an individual as well as the market demands. There are 15 instructors in various courses. Additionally a Coordinator, a Placement Officer and an office assistant give support.

The Final Examination conducted by the institute comprises of two parts:
A) Written Examination
B) Practical/Viva-Voce

Our students have been able to achieve 100% success in their examinations conducted by the Centre. About 60% of the students have scored the O S Grading, while 10% reach B Grading and 30% of all students get the admirable A Grading.

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
Exposure Visits
The exposure trips have been an integral part of the first intensive programs of the Centre of Vocational Training. It provided a unique exposure of learning and gathering first hand information for the participants. The trainees felt that this was a great exercise and were found to be infused with a lot of confidence and determination. They got an opportunity to directly interact with the people from higher platform as a result of which the trainees felt optimistic changes in themselves.
In-House orientation program in the VTC
Orientation programs are conducted for VTC trainees to enhance their skills and knowledge. The trainees are made aware of latest technologies, skilled labour market, opportunities etc.

Workshop
The trainees at VTC are sent to attend workshops conducted by partner organizations. Recently seven students from the Centre took part in a five day workshop organized by Dhritti. The objective of the workshop was to build entrepreneurial skills amongst the youngsters and help them learn the concepts of running an enterprise through an experimental methodology. The students have gone through a concrete learning experience, which made them develop entrepreneurial skills and learn the process of starting a new venture, producing products and selling at the market.
Alumni Meet
Deepalaya regularly organizes Alumni Meets at the Vocational Training Centre. The objective of this meet is to know more about the passed out students - especially regarding their employment or self-employment after completing their vocational training. The students welcome the step taken for them, and all the ex-students have an opportunity to meet their classmates and know each other’s career status and plans. During the Meet, questionnaires/ success story formats are also distributed, to collect data, which is compiled afterwards.
Fancy Dress Competition
Regularly, the students and teachers of the Chameli Dewan Vocational Training Centre organize fancy dress competition. More than 30 students from various trades perform in the program. Fancy looks, fancy themes and caricatures to represent famed personalities are also part of the program. Prizes are distributed to the winners.
Orientation sessions of self help groups (SHGs)
Orientation sessions on SHGs are provided to the trainees of various trades in Vocational Training Centre, for the purpose of forming SHGs. The trainings have been oriented on advantages of forming SHGs, Enterprise Development, Rules and Regulations of SHGs, etc.
Regular Parents Meet
Regularly parent-teacher meetings are held to exchange about the needs and progress of each student.
GE Life Skills Training
The primary goal of the Life Skills Program is to develop skills for employability curriculum and implementation of a model that will have a positive impact on the lives of youths, the disadvantaged and marginalized groups. The lessons taught are on personal competency, effective work habits, decision-making, entrepreneurship and getting started. Particularly underprivileged children and youth benefit from the process of capacity building of an individual. The GE Life Skills Program is implemented by three partner organizations (one is Deepalaya) that all have past experience in working with disadvantaged communities. The GE Life Skills Program was introduced at Deepalaya as a way to improve the overall development among the teaching staff and the trainees of the Chameli Dewan Vocational Training Institute.
What are life skills? As defined by the World Heath organization, life skills are the abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that enables individuals to deal effectively with daily challenges. The primary goal of the GE Life Skills Program at the Chameli Dewan Centre for Vocational Training is to develop a life skills curriculum for health entrepreneurship and employability as well, that has a positive impact on the lives of young people in India.
The GE Life Skills program offers many aspects to encourage personal competencies among the trainees e.g. listening, being assertive, anger management, maintaining healthy relationship, bridging self confidence, handling self in stressful situations, setting up goals in daily lives, accepting criticism and being optimistic. The program also shares knowledge on how to be a good employer by including the habit of obedience, punctuality, respecting and improving on verbal communication. Further the program gives an insight on maintaining co-operation, leadership qualities and team working. The GE Life Skills Program also gives inputs on nutrition, balanced diet, drug and alcohol abuse, sexual abuses and sexual awareness, communicable diseases, environmental protection and pollution. The program exposes the trainees in dealing financial matters like budgeting, loaning and borrowing money and many other diversified topics on rights, duties of an individual and of entrepreneurial skills.

Curriculum Development and Formation of Advisory Group

Inputs from Professionals and Corporates are taken in the curriculum developmentof the Chameli Dewan Centre for Vocational Training. The current draft curriculum is regularly presented before a formed advisory group, which includes professionals from the different trades. The purpose of forming a group is to gain from their experiences in the relevant field, to keep the Vocational Training Centre updated with the new trend in industry.
PLACEMENTS ACTIVITIES
Deepalaya provides help to find a good placement for students who pass the vocational training courses successfully. In this regard, the placement cell of the VTC has made linkages with corporates/ organizations like Intex Technologies, Ahuja Radios, Salora, LG Service, Orient Fashions, Habibs, Shanaaz Beauty Parlour, National Thermal Power Cooperation, Hyundai Motors India, ESSAR Infotech, ABM Information Technologies, and Cornell Overseas etc. for organizing placements/ internship/ exposure visits for the trainees.
Deepalaya constantly strives to make its students and their families self reliant. Towards this end Deepalaya trains the students and provide the an opportunity through its in house placement division to work in the following companies:

Campus Interview
The Chameli Dewan Centre for Vocational Training enables companies to conduct interviews with students on the campus or outside. Between July and September students were selected for a final interview where they got a final placement.
Community
The Chameli Dewan Centre for Vocational Training recruits youth and children from the slum and the resettlements colonies in Delhi. Most of the children come from migrated families and temporarily settled communities. Most of the families are daily waged earners and unskilled labours. They work as factory workers, rickshaw pullers, construction workers etc. The slums and the resettlement areas have poor and precarious living conditions with frugal income. Most of them come from the neighboring states compelled to leave their native land due to economic and social situations. Fleeing from repressive situations, they become victims of government policies. They face lawlessness, insecurity, deprivations, hostility and over-crowding etc.

Vision
A program has been proposed to scale up the existing projects in five aspects. These five major modules would contain Start-Up strategy for Business Development, Finance and Accounting, Marketing Strategy, Soft Skills and Computer Skills.

Future Plans
Deepalaya believes that the young adults from the marginalized communities are cut for jobs better than mere menial jobs. It hopes the Vocational Training Centre to provide training concurrent with their education, which makes them gainfully employed.
We aim to cater to more and more young adults from the disadvantaged communities who could be the role models of the younger generation of their area.