Our Work - Educate
Vocational Training Centre
Due to poor socio-economic conditions in urban slums many young girls and boys discontinue their schooling and their future appears bleak. There are not many options available before them to earn livelihood. The position of teenage girls is even worse. Some girls of our working areas do not even move freely out of their families or areas. There is a need to provide space to youth to come out to a free environment and provide them the opportunities to develop. This will enhance their capacity to stand in today’s competitive world.
Responding to this need of urban youth of marginalized strata SXSSS has been promoting the concept of youth empowerment through various vocational courses. For many years Vocational training courses have been running in different working areas provide help to teenage girls.
Youth Empowerment Centre (Yuva Prashikshan Kendra) is a step forward taken in 2010 to empower youth through their skill enhancement. Youth Empowerment Centres provides courses in five categories to youth with holistic approach, with a perspective to empower youth:
- NIOS coaching: NIOS Programme comes under the aegis of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. The objective of the programme is to encourage and support students to continue their education who have dropped out of educational system due to poor economic conditions and slow learning capacities. This Programme gives an opportunity for drop out students to complete at least a secondary or a higher secondary grade education without the rigours of attending a regular school schedule. SXSSS provides coaching classes and counselling to these students.
- English course: Understanding the importance of English language in today’s competitive environment, English course is run in the centres.
- Computer course: Computers is taught in the centres, which includes basic knowledge of computers.
- Vocational Trainings: Various vocational courses like sewing, embroidery, pattern and Henna training courses are conducted in the centres. Trainings which can earn livelihood to youth are given in these centres depending on the demands of the youth. When there is a demand for specific training by some considerable number of youth that particular training shall be arranged by the organization considering the practical aspects. E.g. office assistance, mobile repairing etc.
Beyond Vocational Training to Enhancing Capacity
Besides learning different trades, the other major ways the Centres help in the empowerment of the youth:
- Greater self-confidence and dignity: after completing the vocational course, the girls and boys feel very confident about themselves and very sure that they can stand on their own feet if needed. The classes definitely help cultivating a new skill that has in turn given greater self-confidence and dignity to the young girls and boys.
- Greater interaction with youth of same age: the Centres provide opportunities for greater interaction with youth of their own age. Discussions regarding various issues in the classes help them to learn and have an experience of the outside world about which they were unaware.
- The Centres give them an opportunity to have new friends and in the classes, they enjoy and feel free to have fun. At the centres, the girls and boys come from both Hindu and Muslim community hence, they provide a space where they develop a good friendship and mutual trust.
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