EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS

Social Sector Education Project

Status: Proof-of-concept stage

Background

The social sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in India. Social sector expenditure increased to 8.8 percent as a proportion of GDP in FY 2020-21. This increase was seen across all sectors such as education, health, nutrition, and skill development, among others. The growth of the social sector underlines the massive potential for investments inn key areas, which can quicken economic development and social equilibrium.

However, despite the high spend in the social sector, India’s HDI ranking in 2019 was 131 compared to 129 in 2018 out of a total 189 countries— a drop of two places. This underscores the need for greater investments in the social sector for India to reap the dividends of its demographic advantage.

Despite the size of the sector and its significant impact on the Indian economy, the entire sector remains highly unstructured and unorganized, which is alarming. Even though it plays a critical role in delivering services and remedies to some of the most vulnerable sections of people in India, the social sector is marked by the lack of professionals, skilled, qualified and/or trained experts, workers, and volunteers.

India’s progress towards becoming a $ 5 trillion economy bears a direct corelation to exponential increase in social equity that will ensure greater demand and consumption—the two most critical engines of economic progress.

What FORMAL SOCIAL SECTOR EDUCATION can deliver

Objectives of Social Sector Education Project

Programmes & Certiﬁcations

Create undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degree programs within the current education system Create diploma certiﬁcation programme for professional already engaged in the sector
Industry interface

The academic side will have a strong interface with the industry for providing practical training through internship, summer jobs and projects for practical training in the ﬁeld. Establish a strong campus recruitment programme for the pass outs
Evaluation

Conduct social audits, monitoring, and evaluation of projects funded by entities.

EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS

Phase 1 of Social Sector Education project

Stage 1

Education Gap Identification: Mapping of the Indian education scenario and creating a project report to identify the gaps in the social sector education structure in India.
Building a curriculum, based on the project report for:
- Short-term courses (Certificate Courses)
- Diploma Courses
- Undergraduate Courses
- Post-Graduation Courses

Stage 1

Content creation based on the curriculum would be divided into:
- Online Content
- Blended Learning Content
Identifying, approaching, and tying up with international and national universities and institutes for the rollout of the programmes
Faculty development Training for the partners on the curriculum and Content

Phase 2 of Social Sector Education project

The second phase would entail setting up Centres of Excellence (CoE) at prominent locations to promote specialised training in social sector management.

Education Accessibility & Vocational Training for Differently Abled People

Status: Proof-of-concept stage

Background

According to the 2011 census report, approximately 2.68 crore people are born or live with some form of disability, translating to 2.21 percent of the population. Only 8.5 percent of India’s disabled population have access to higher education, while the prevalence of illiteracy among them is as high as 45 percent. Only 9 percent of disabled children progress beyond primary education due to the lack disabled-friendly infrastructure and specialised teaching methodologies. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Disability factsheet has warned that with rapid increase global population, the number of people with some form of disability will rise significantly due to chronic health conditions in the coming decades.

The Government of India’s poverty reduction agenda will not be effective unless sufficient emphasis is placed on addressing the needs for ‘inclusion in education’ and skill development for disabled people. It will be the first step towards greater acceptance of diversity and for creating more tolerant, equitable and cohesive societies.