The World Bank has created a new program to help India’s most vulnerable populations — women and those experiencing poverty — receive job training. The World Bank will donate $125 million to the STRIVE Project in India through the World Bank’s International Development Association. STRIVE is an acronym for Skills Training for Industrial Value Enhancement.

The STRIVE Project, which will last from March 2017 to November 2022, focuses on improving industrial training institutes and apprenticeships in India. There are about 12,000 industrial training institutes in India, and the STRIVE program will directly affect about 300 of them. However, STRIVE will still have an effect on the rest of the training institutes. The total cost of the program over the next five years will be approximately $318 million.

What do the Industrial Training Institutes Teach?

The Apprenticeship Act of 1961 developed industrial training institutes across the nation in order to train and certify employees in a variety of trades. The training was not standardized until the summer of 2016, when the NSQF (National Skill Qualification Framework) was created to officially accredit the training institutes.

Industrial training institutes train students for jobs such as a machinist or welder. These programs are designed for students who do not have the finances for expensive training, such as going to a university.

STRIVE ensures that industrial training institutes have quality educators and technology in order to train students. In addition, STRIVE will modernize formal apprenticeship programs.

Who STRIVE Will Benefit the Most

Dalits, the lowest caste in India (called untouchables), had an unemployment rate of 18 percent in 2014. India’s general unemployment rate in that same year was 14.5 percent.

Less than 31 percent of women in India are participating in fields that require some degree of industrial training, and less than 9 percent are currently enrolled as students in industrial training institutes. The STRIVE Project will reserve class seats for women and for those who are from lower castes.

STRIVE Project in India will improve the quality of life for members of vulnerable populations, and will help the Indian economy by strengthening these sectors.

– Jennifer Taggart

Photo: Flickr