To break the poverty cycle: GoI should allow companies to offer earn-while-you-learn education to poor young Indians

Source: TOI

Relevance: To understand the issue of poverty in migrants.

Synopsis: Given the nature of the jobs of migrants and the need to educate them, there is a need to create an alternate education system for them.

Challenges of education for migrants

• Education is seen by many as a ticket out of poverty.
• Today, in the market, including manual labour, one cannot rise above a certain level without education.
• So, this creates a huge barrier for migrants who often move from one place to another.

How can we address this?

• An alternate education system suited for migrants without disturbing the mainstream system has to be framed.
• The government must allow places like hospitals, construction firms and manufacturing industries to provide education. This is also vital for child nutrition, as labourers send their children to school for food.
• Industries can provide job-specific training in an informal way. This will benefit industries as they get skilled labour.
  • For example: if every hospital with more than 200 beds is allowed to train Auxiliary Nursing Midwives (ANM) and General Nursery and Midwifery (GNM)
  • ANM students can work certain hours and attend online classes few hours daily. This will benefit the labourers and the health industry both.

Way Forward:

• It is understood that our government cannot pay for a college education. But it can create a parallel college education system for the poor and authorize industries to offer blended courses through the online route.