This document proposes a new model for vocational training in India to address the skills gap. It involves building a large network of volunteers, including professionals, retired executives, and students, who would provide skills training on weekends. A central management team would recruit and map volunteers to local skills needs. Training would be provided through a low-cost, scalable model using public buildings and online resources. The program aims to train 5 million people annually across India through this volunteer network with an annual budget of only INR 5 crore, funded through government and corporate support. Key risks include lack of interest from volunteers or trainees and challenges in curriculum design and student placements.

1. Skills Shortage
A new vocational educational model to bridge the gap
1
Manthan Topic: Building Skillsets
Team Details
Please note that this a sample presentation to guide the participants to structure their
report. Manthan Team takes no responsibility for the data presented in this report.

2. India churns out 3 million graduates every year however employability of
these graduates is a major concern
2
Employability of technical graduates Disconcerting characteristics of Indian employment
A. Unemployment increases with education:
• Illiterates have the lowest unemployment rates while
educated graduates have highest rates
• Hypothesis: Mainstream education in India is totally out
of sync of job market requirements
B. Unemployment peaks in the most productive age group of
19-35 years:
• Unemployment level in Kerala one of the most literate
states has around 35% unemployment in this age group
• Hypothesis: Productive youth are unable to find the
employment opportunities they seek
C. Urban unemployment higher than rural unemployment
• Rural unemployment at 7% is lower than urban
unemployment at 14%
• Hypothesis: Lack of specialized skills of urban youth
Source: National Employability report, National Sample Survey, UGC report, Media reports
17.50%
2.68%
9.22%
36.57%
40.69%
IT Services IT Product Knowledge
Process
Outsourcing
Hardware
Networking
Business
Process
Outsourcing
• Around 75% of technical graduates and 85%
of general graduates are unemployable
• Around 90% do not have the requisite
English proficiency

3. Building skills through a large network of volunteers managed
centrally is an innovative way to address the skill gap
3
Snapshot of solution proposed
Volunteer
driven skills
training
Implementation
model
Advantage over
existing system
• Extremely low cost and fungible skills training institutes
• Volunteers drawn from various service professions, retired executives and graduate
students
• Incorporating requirements of actual employers with government corporate funding
• Volunteers to impart skills training on holiday and weekends
• Region wise skill mapping of volunteers to skills gap identified facilitated by a central
management team backed by technological and organizational enablers
• Curriculum design, placement support, credit support integral part of the model
• Utilizes the skills freely available in society as opposed to institutional setups like
Industrial training Institutes which have outdated curriculum and no linkages with
industry and are facing staff shortages
• Large impact (5 mn educated) with very low cost (INR 5 cr per year)

4. We will build a network of volunteers drawn among
professionals, retired executives and graduate students
4
Network of volunteers
Professionals Retired / Defence services Graduate students
Rationale for
choosing the
group
• Have specific skills needed in the
job market
• Can impart relevant training
through work experience
• Free during weekends
• Long and distinguished work
experience
• Opportunity to work in
voluntary engagements
• Ample spare time
• Easy to tap into by
contacting major colleges
• Opportunity to build their
resumes and additional
training skills
Number
• More than 50 million IT and other
services professionals
• More than 20 million retired
executives
• Around 1 million
graduates
Potential skills
imparted
• English proficiency
• IT and computer training
• Paramedical skills
• Retail and hospitality training
• Manufacturing skills training
• Cooking, culinary skills
• Small entrepreneurial ventures
• Industrial operations,
fabrication, apparels
• English proficiency
• Computer training
• English proficiency
• Computer and IT skills
training
• Web and mobile
programming

5. Volunteers will be recruited through online and offline
channels after assessing the area wise skills gap
5
Building the volunteer army
Recruitment Management & Mapping Implementation
• Direct recruitment from central/ state
government offices
• Direct recruitment by reaching out to
NGOs/ Voluntary organizations
• Reaching out to colleges and alumni
associations
• Online registration
• Mobile based registration
Recruitment of volunteers
0.5 Million+ volunteers across
the country to be recruited
• We will understand the requirement
at block level for both urban and
rural areas
• Survey of industries/ services per
district and per block and potential
requirement of skills identified
• Direct interaction with service
providers/ manufacturers and
potential trainees in the area
• Complete district wise and block
wise skills and volunteer
requirement identified
Need of skills assessment
• Large scale media and
offline campaign to support
the volunteer recruitment
drive
• Both traditional and social
media will be utilized to
spread the message
• Posters/ Banners to be put
up in high footfall urban
areas like shopping
complexes, Railway stations
Awareness Building

6. The volunteer network will be managed by a central
management team supported by state of the art infrastructure
6
Managing the volunteer army
Recruitment Management & Mapping Implementation
Central
management
system
District
offices
NGOs
Online
Recruitment of volunteers
Central system to map
volunteers with districts
and areas backed by IT
infrastructure
School
Govt
building
Education
camps
Volunteer
homes
Training at district level
• Teaching preferences and location
of volunteers to be taken at the
time of registration
• Volunteers to be assigned to their
home zones based on the needs of
skills training in the district
• Arrangement of training venue viz
school, government buildings etc to
be mapped by the central
management system staffed by few
government employees with online
database
Salient features

7. Key elements of the implementation plan are designed to
make it scalable and sustainable
7
Implementing the plan
Recruitment Management & Mapping Implementation
• Medium of instruction: English
• Training Period: 3 months to 1 year
only on weekends based on the
training module
• Venue : Local government schools
or offices
• Computerized vocational training
through internet and Video
conference
• Online content: Video recordings of
courses to be uploaded on internet
Training delivery model Curriculum
Corporate support, Scalability and
Sustainability
• Curriculum design: Inputs to be
taken from main clients of the
program viz corporates and
SMEs
• Generic modules like numeracy,
literacy, communication skills,
basic computer skills
• Formal education curriculum to
be incorporated to enable
students to acquire diplomas,
certificates
• Corporate support for the program
will be forthcoming with quality of
graduates being produced
• Eg. Reliance trained 20000
workers out of 70000 needed to
build Jamnagar refinery who
could have been directly recruited
• Recruitment of volunteering
teachers from among the newly
passed out graduates will help the
model be self driven

8. We will have a organization team at central and regional level
consisting of around 80 FTEs
8
Chief Controller
Outreach/
Media team
Co-ordination
Team
Finance Team
Curriculum
team
Organizational setup for the initiative
Reports to Director of Vocational training
Manages and responsible for the initiative
Corporate
support, Media
strategy . FTE: 3
Recruitment
Team
IT Team
Mapping of
trainees &
volunteers. FTE: 3
Recruitment of
volunteers through
all channels. FTE: 6
Funds
management.
FTE: 2
Curriculum design
and co-ordination
FTE: 12
Front end and
backend support
FTE: 4
Central Management Team
City ControllerCity Controller Regional ControllerRegional Controller
One Regional controller for each of 100 regional and district centres identified for imparting of vocational training. He
will be supported by a venue volunteer, co-ordination volunteer, Trainee groups and local NGOs. FTE: 50
Regional organization

9. The vocational training model will require around INR 5 cr of
funding from government and corporate bodies annually
9
TotalFunding
Required
Organization cost
Regional: (50 FTEs @ 5 lakh pa)
Chief Controller (1FTE x 8 lakh pa)
Central Teams: (30 FTEs x 4.6 lakh avg pa)
Logistics cost
Transportation cost
Establishment cost
Technology cost
IT Hardware cost
IT Software cost
Communication expense
INR 3 cr
per annum
INR 50
lakh per
annum
INR 1 cr
per annum
The volunteer driven training is envisaged as a 50:50 funding partnership between the Government and private bodies who are the main beneficiaries. We
propose to raise additional 20% from philanthropists and through nominal training cost charged from individuals

10. The program will be able to impact 5 million people every year
through a network of 0.5 million volunteers
10
Volunteer Network
• 0.5 Mn volunteers to be
recruited through the outreach
drive
• 0.3 Mn Professionals
• 0.1 Mn Retired Executives
• 0.1 Mn Students
Trainees
• 5 Mn to be trained yearly across 100
districts / cities
• Programs will be for a month,
quarter, half-year and annual
Skills imparted
• Computer literacy
• English proficiency
• Basic manufacturing skills training:
machine tools, CNCs, Apparel
manufacturing and fabrication
• Web and mobile programming
• Retail and Hospitality
• Basic accounting skills
Placement Support
• Placement support to graduating
students by inviting firms who can
utilize their skillsets
• Industry internships and
traineeships for students
Integration with mainstream
• Diplomas/ Certificates to be
awarded
• Formal education modules to help
gain admission into colleges or
diploma courses
Impact and Reach Additional help

11. The volunteer driven model of vocational training faces key
concept and implementation risks
11
Challenges and Risks
Concept Risks
• Government or corporates do not see the viability of funding
this model
• Unemployed youth do not see the value of vocational
education and prefer formal programs
• Volunteer enrollment minimal and key profession groups
show no interest
Implementation challenges
• Difficulty in integrating with government infrastructure and
institutions
• Placement of students will be a big challenge
• Curriculum design and fit to industry needs a massive effort
• Funding from other sources or self funded model
via training fees
• Tighter integration with formal education
• Advertising/ Awareness Campaign
Mitigation factors
• Tie-ups with other vendors for providing venues
and offline registration/ interaction channels
• Tie-ups with placement agencies
• Tie-ups with industries for internships/ articleships
• Bringing in industry leaders/ NGOs for curriculum
and training inputs

12. Appendix
12
References
• Unsettled Settlers: Migrant Workers and Industrial Capitalism in Calcutta
• Wilfred Malenbaum, Urban Unemployment in India Published by: Pacific Affairs, University of
British Columbia
• 17 Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Micro and small enterprises
• Towards a Knowledge Society, National Knowledge Commission India, 2008
• Report of the Special group on targeting 10 million opportunities per year, Planning Commission
India 2002
• Report of the Task Force on employment opportunities, Planning Commission India
• 2001
• Skill Development in India, Vocational Education and Training System , Human
• Development Unit, World Bank 2006
• Entrepreneurship in India, National Knowledge Commission 2008