In a February 2024 report, Financial Express, a leading daily, shared details of the “high tide of unemployment” among youth in India. The article pointed out that despite a raging war in Gaza, many youth from the country, especially from poorer States, are signing up by the droves to seek employment in Israel.
The National Period Labour Force Survey, from 2023, has underlined the problem of youth employment, estimating that a steep 17.3% of those between 15 – 29 years remain unemployed in urban India. Studies have also noted that despite adequate education, many industry leaders are sceptical about hiring young job seekers in India due to an acute lack of 21st-century skills.
Udhyam Foundation seeks to address the worrying trend of youth unemployment at its root. Working with over 3 million youth – from schools and vocational institutes – the Foundation has created well-tailored programmes and interventions to unlock youth potential and nurture their entrepreneurial mindset.
A Late Start
Even at the start line, children fall behind, Udhyam Foundation has noted. Over 57% of Class 5 students can’t read a text meant for second graders. About 73% of the country’s young minds don’t make it to college and a mere 2.3% of the population possesses formal vocational skills.
In a country that is blessed, in spades, with a demographic dividend, Udhyam Foundation notes that we risk losing it all by not addressing the mounting and complex issues linked with education, skilling and work.
With its wide-spread Shiksha initiative, Udhyam Foundation has devised several effective ways to spark 21st-century skills, claim agency, and drive change. The programmes have also birthed several nano-entrepreneurs who have established income streams and career paths that previously looked inaccessible to them.
In this blog, let’s take a closer look at Shiksha and the skills it plants in generations of students across the country. Let us also explore why it would be important to replicate these strategies across India to ensure that unemployment doesn’t defeat our youth
Skilling For Life
Udhyam Foundation has emphasised the need to start young. Young students are malleable and are receptive to learning and this is where 21st-century skills should become a part of their mental makeup. Targeting students between the ages of 14 and 22, Shiksha focuses on learning by implementing experiential curricula and getting young minds to participate in business projects.
The Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculum engages with students, nudging them to pick projects that are meaningful to them, increases their collaborative and communication skills through group work, and evaluates their growth. In vocational schools, when youth are closer to seeking out employment, the programme extensively involves participants in real-world business projects.
The results of these programmes have been inspiring. School authorities have not just reported improved self-efficacy, grit and the ability to try new things among all participants but also immensely positive results among young girls and women, who usually find themselves on the back foot.
Power Up!
The encouraging results are reflected in the stories of students like Divya. A young homemaker and mother, Divya aspired to a career that gave her purpose. However, with limited resources and no marketable skills, she was unsure of what to do. Her perseverance led her to a course at ITI Bhusawal, in northern Maharastra, and here she was part of Udhyam’s Entrepreneurial Mindset programme.
Her enthusiastic participation in the incubation programme led her to revive her floundering baking business and she was also able to make a bold foray into setting up a beauty salon. With the skills, she learnt she has now turned both businesses into profit-making enterprises.
A closer look at Divya’s story underlines the several challenges that India’s youth face as well as the solutions offered by Udhyam’s holistic interventions. Like Divya, millions of young Indians have potential and are hungry to succeed but they lack the tools to navigate the workforce. Giving youth access to opportunities to upskill and guiding them through the process of making their business dreams a reality, equips them to maximise their potential in astonishing ways.
The Business of Success
In Delhi and Punjab, Udhyam’s introduction of the Real World Business Projects initiative also gave wings to many a entrepreneurial dream. Close to a 1,000 students from Grade 11 and 12 in these two regions were given seed money of INR 2,000 and from there they have realised business projects.
Apart from unlocking undiscovered potential, the students, at the end of their projects, have acquired shiny new skills in collaboration, communication, team building, leadership, networking, risk taking and critical thinking. Many students also went down unexplored paths, shaping business ventures that will lead to a sustainable world.
All of the skills gained in this programme are fundamental to success as individuals in the workplace or even in to be a well-rounded member of society. Notably, introducing these programmes at the crucial juncture when young students are making critical decisions on what career paths they want to pursue, gives them the confidence and tried-and-tested knowledge on the vocational courses that will suit them best.
Making Bharat Enrepreneurial
Targetting students from 22 districts in ITIs across the Indian State of Haryana, Udhyami Haryana is an incubation programme. Specifically targetted as a solution to youth unemployment, the programme, supported by the expertise of the Udhyam Team, nurtures business ideas from the incubation stage till they reach reach sustainability.
The incubation programme undoubtedly infuses young trainees with key 21-st century skills. But more importantly, Udyam, through this programme, strikes directly at the problem of unemployment and unemployability.
Take the cases of Priyanka and Vishal – both beneficiaries of the programme. After her father’s untimely death, Priyanka decided to shoulder her family’s expense and enrolled in a trade course at ITI Kurukshetra.
Paired with her formal training in dressmaking, the Udhyami programme gave her the confidence, creativity and grit to forge a new path. Instead of merely sewing dresses for customers, Priyanka took her business to another level by employing new-age marketing techniques, rewarding customers with loyalty points, and building the scope for referral marketing. Today, she is not just employed but is a savvy business woman with a profitable venture.
Vishal too has gone down a similar path. While he had the backing of his father’s tent and catering business, Vishal wanted to do more. He signed up for the Udhyami programme at GITI Yamunagar in Haryana. Like Priyanka, the programme opened his eyes to new possibilities and he saw that there is immense potential in event management. Today, he has taken his father’s business to the next level and increased his family’s earnings.
The Udhyam Way
In 2023 alone, Udhyam has reached thousands of students across India. But with millions joining the workforce each year, we need initiatives at a much larger scale and they need to penetrate every school, college and institute in the county.
Now is the time for strong partnerships – between governments and civil society, between the educational ecosystem and society, between existing programmes, like Udhyam’s, and innovations. The Shiksha initiative can easily be scaled and implemented in various contexts but it will require continuous support to reach young minds at an urgent pace. If we can come together and make this happen, then, every student stepping out into the world in the coming years will proudly be able to bet on themselves, setting the course towards an unbeatable India!
