Creating livelihood opportunities for village youth

Auroville Today: What was the motivation to start the Institute?

Lavkamad: Around 2000, Karen and Bhavana of Village Action were worried about the youth in the neighboring village. They had nothing to do and were roaming around, creating problems. So they suggested these youth should receive skill training so they could find a job.

To begin with, the idea was to provide very simple skill training for carpenters, electricians and computer mechanics. Karen requested funds from the Government of Germany to set up infrastructure for such a training and this was approved.

It began quite well, but in 2004 when I came into the picture I found the situation was not sustainable because each student was being paid a stipend of Rs 500 a month, which meant that the money we had would soon run out. So my first action was to stop the stipend and then to make a long-term plan of how to become sustainable.

I recognised it was essential that the courses were officially recognized so that the local people, when applying for a job, would have something to show as a qualification. So we decided to offer professional training in four trades – electronics, computer science (hardware and software), and secretarial studies – for which the Tamil Nadu government would issue a professional certificate.

They were one year courses, at the end of which the students had to take an examination. After they passed, we agreed to help them get a placement with a company.

It began well. We had a good response from the village people and our students were performing very well. In fact, we were recognised as one of the best technical training schools in Tamil Nadu. But slowly the intake of students came down because the Tamil Nadu certificate was not recognized all over India and students wanted a certificate recognized by the Central Government.

With fewer students, covering our running costs became a big problem. The Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research (SAIIER) never supported us and the German Government grant was a one-time grant for infrastructure, so we relied on support from friends. Our students come from the poorest families so initially, after stopping the stipend, we offered them loans to pay for the training. But these were never repaid, so we had to start charging course fees. Initially, this was Rs 10,000 a year but that was more than some could afford.

For a short period after 2005 we ran some short-term courses financed by the Auroville Tsunami Fund and by government schemes for fisher people and women’s development. But it was always difficult dealing with the government, and we would only receive some of the funding much later.

We decided we needed to run a larger range of courses to attract students, so we applied to the German Government again and received funds to build a computer laboratory and a second phase of classrooms so that we could run courses in civil draftsmanship and electronics.

The electronics and computer courses were well subscribed but we never managed to get many students for training in civil draughts-manship.

We never had a problem finding placements for the students. We prepared them very well, firstly for passing the examination and then for the job interview, telling them how to communicate, how to dress etc. Computer companies were calling us and telling us they needed so many students, and local firms, like GK electronics, were good friends so we were also sending our students there.

So this training really made a difference to the lives of your students.

Yes, but it wasn’t easy for them. Students from this area have to overcome two big problems. One is financial. They come from very poor families so even though they may have wanted to study at a higher level in a college or university, the fees would have been too high so they had no choice but to come for us. In fact, at first they expected Auroville would pay for the training.

To begin with, we charged Rs 10,000 a year and now we charge Rs 20,000 a year although the cost to us of each student is actually around Rs 30,000. Rs 20,000 a year is a lot of money for a poor family, and although we distribute some scholarships when we receive donations, the dropout rate of our students in the past was quite high, around 25%.

Another challenge we encountered was that the students could not read or write one sentence in English and could not multiply or divide, even though they had passed the Tenth Standard. So we had to start from scratch teaching them English and mathematics.

How could you do this as well as impart skills training in just one year?

It was too difficult. This is another reason we shifted, in 2016, to Central Government certification, because these are two-year courses.

Which courses are you offering at present?

Electronic engineering, computer hardware and fitters. The fitters course is happening at our new campus in Palmyra. We also offered training in welding, but this course was very expensive because of the materials involved, and this year there has been no intake.

It must be frustrating for the teachers when there is a high dropout rate or courses do not take off.

Of course, but the quality of the teaching has been another challenge. In the past, the teachers were always complaining that the students were so bad that they could not achieve better results in the more difficult subjects like electronics and civil draftsmanship. However, the teachers were teaching in the traditional way and I realized from my own experience of studying and working in Germany that good teaching requires two things. Firstly, teachers have to be inspirational and, secondly, they need to interest the students by showing how their knowledge can be practically applied.

So I did some research on teaching methods and I found that one of the ways of creating interest is practical, project-based learning. We started with this but the staff were always resisting. But then we had the chance to get assistance from the Germany Senior Expert Service. This is a German government programme that enables qualified people who have retired from their jobs to teach young people. I’ve seen it done in Germany and was very much impressed by how they get the students to do independent work, so I thought it would be good if these teachers could come and train our teachers.

Now this is happening people and our results are much improved. For me this was the breakthrough in terms of improving the teaching.

The German government covers the expenses for this programme but the big problem that remained was the cost of the course fees to the students. We were racking our brains for ways in which we could help poor people to do these courses. Then I remembered the German ‘dual-training’ system. Under this system, students on a two year course spend one third of their time in school and two thirds working in a company, for which they receive a stipend. So I thought that if we could institute the same system here, students could pay our course fees from the stipend they received by working in a company.

Fortunately, in 2016 the Indian Government came up with a scheme which enabled us to do this. For the two year courses, every year students would spend seven months in the Institute and five months working in a company. We started our first dual-training programme in electronics and fitting in July this year, and we are working with businesses like Grace Infrastructure, GT electronics and Auroville’s Sunlit Future. The students get Rs 6000 a month stipend from the businesses which allows them to pay our Rs 20,000 course fee.

Forty two students are participating and the scheme is working very well. The students are more interested because they are doing practical work – there are no dropouts – and the companies are happy.

However, we have not been able to include the computer hardware course in the dual training, so there is still a financial problem for the students on this course.

In fact, financially for the past three or four years it has been very hard for us to cover the Institute’s running expenses. We expect the dual-training programme will help, but this year we have 130 students in the Institute, many of whom are not in the dual-training programme and their course fees do not cover the full cost of their training. The Dutch Foundation, Stichting de Zaiier, has helped, but they only give for infrastructure, not running expenses. With no financial support from either the Government or from Auroville, we rely upon donations from contacts I have in Germany to survive.

Why doesn’t Auroville support the Institute?

We applied to SAIIER but they told us they only receive government funds to support non-formal education. Also, Auroville wants to be different in everything. We can teach our programmes in less formal ways – they can be student-centred, interdisciplinary – but in the end mathematics is mathematics, engineering is engineering, and this cannot be different in Auroville from anywhere else.

But for me the larger picture is that the growth of Auroville is dependent on the growth of the surrounding area. As long as there is poverty in the area, we should find ways of helping these people. Village action is already doing very good work but there are a lot of people not getting any support and we can help them better their livelihood through our skills training programmes.

Moreover, we need a skilled workforce in this area to help us build the city. In fact, many of our ex-students are working in Auroville. For example, the accountant at the Financial Service was trained by us, also the senior technician at Aquadyn. Others are independent contractors working on Auroville projects or draftsmen and secretaries in our units.

How do you see the future?

In India, many of the engineers coming out of university are useless, unemployable, because they have no practical experience. This is why, some years ago, I began talking with Mike and Lalit about having an applied science university in Auroville. India does not have any applied science universities, so this would be unique. And Auroville offers so many possibilities here. We have a 100 acre campus at Palmyra, and we have professional designers, architects, computer programmers, and people skilled in water management and agriculture. We could run courses in all of these where we can combine academics with technical application.

Of course, at the end of the course there has to be a certificate, but we in Auroville should overcome this mindset of not wanting qualifications, of trying to be different all the time. We should build upon what is already there, and define what is needed both for the local people and for Auroville.

The Institute began with the intention of making a difference to the situation of poor, unemployed youth in the villages. Has it succeeded in this?

Definitely, there’s been a lot of change. Over the years, we have trained more than 2000 students and I know of many ex-students coming from very poor families who are now doing very well. So I think that for a small group of society we are contributing to change this area for the better.

This is actually the reason I came back to India in 2004. I could have stayed in Germany where I was a project manager for one of the largest projects in software development with Airbus but I had the feeling that I had to return to India. My parents were very poor. They put all their money together to send me to Germany to study. When I arrived I only had money for six weeks. However, during the whole time I was in Germany I got support from different people, some of whom I never even met. They helped me find a job, learn the language, and supported my studies. I received so much help there, I wanted to give something back to society by helping the poorest. This is why I returned to India.