Upskilling the Community

Launched on July 4, 2009, the Community College Scheme has taken significant strides towards providing training in the areas of upskilling, leading to gainful employment of the successful students.

“So far, 535 Community Colleges are registered with the IGNOU Community College Scheme. As on date, over 40,000 students have got registered at Cer tificate and Diploma level programmes in multiple skill-based areas. At the examinations conducted during December 2009 and June 2010, 5,000 students have earned their cer tificates and about 70 percent of them have already got placements,” says Dr C.K. Ghosh, Director, Community College Unit (CCU).

The other distinctive feature of this scheme is the provision given to a student to join a three-year Degree Programme at IGNOU following a Vertical Mobility Scheme from an Associate Degree Programme of two years at a Community College. The available programmes are Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com), Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA), Bachelor of Tourism Studies (BTS) and Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) and for the first batch, more than 300 applications have been received.

“Thus, the Community College Scheme is serving a two-fold purpose. Not only has it opened avenues for the dropouts for getting skill-oriented vocational education, it has also given them an opportunity to join the mainstream collegiate education.”

“The recent initiatives taken by the Community College Unit provide them a platform for Automated Management of Student Registration and give them the scope to come on Gyan Vani FM Stations spread over the country to popularise their programmes. The Community Colleges are also being encouraged to of fer the bridge courses for Non 10+2, i.e. the Bachelor’s Preparatory Programme (BPP) with a view to enhance the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER),” Dr Ghosh adds.

A tie-up is also being worked out with the Tamil Nadu Open University (TNOU) for allowing their Cer tificate Programme students to have a lateral entry into the Diploma-level pogramme of IGNOU.

“IGNOU, through its Community Colleges, aims to enhance the pool of skilled labour force, as the largest share of new jobs is likely to come from the unorganised sector, which employs up to 93 percent of the national workforce. Most reports project that only five percent of the Indian labour force in the age group of 20-24 years has obtained vocational skills through formal means. In comparison, industrialised countries have 60 percent- 96 percent skilled youth. Community Colleges will help us bridge this large gap,” emphasises Pro-Vice Chancellor Dr Latha Pillai.

“India has the largest share of youth population which needs to be channelised into diverse and multi-level occupational areas. The emphasis is on targeting 2-tier and 3-tier cities, for development necessitates tapping local talent and skill for community specific occupations. A proper blend of theory and practice-oriented curriculum will help bring a revolutionary change in job preferences and workforce training. Community Colleges will, thus, cater to several skillbased jobs in areas such as agriculture, health, law, computer technologies and nursing,” she adds.