The pandemic has been a reckoning of sorts for the way people lived their lives and went about their careers. While offices shut shop on their workspaces and moved to remote work models, educational institutes attempted to bridge the social distancing gap via online classes. Even as the workforce managed to transition to a work-from-home model with visible success, online education found it difficult to offer the youth of today a viable option to on-ground learning.

Many youngsters, who got accepted at prestigious colleges for management education, found online education lacking when it came to developing real-time management skills and experience. While youth across the globe have exhibited remarkable fortitude and adaptability in the face of an unprecedented crisis, their ability to equip themselves with the right set of skills that make them employable, have been compromised.

Importance of Skilled Labour

Studies suggest that, over the next four years, 40% of current workers’ skills might have to undergo a transformation given the new labour market demands and rapid digital innovation cycles. It is up to organizations like Eaton India Foundation to prepare the current and upcoming workforce to adequately navigate the challenges and upskill and re-skill themselves to drive value for companies and the overall economy. The process does not merely include facilitating high quality education and learning environments but also creating a conducive environment for technical and vocational learning. This year, the World Youth Skills Day pays homage to the indomitable courage, resilience, and creativity depicted by youth, and makes an appeal to technical and vocational providers to adapt their training models to the hybrid era.

Corporate Investment in Skilling Youth

Even as corporations look towards the new age of youth, educated in the online learning landscape, to assimilate into a hybrid working culture, the responsibility to empower them falls squarely on the shoulders of these organizations. Helping them fit into the pre-COVID work environment, while adopting disruptive technologies and work styles created for the hybrid workspace, requires dedication and effort. The Corporate Social Responsibility fund aids to reach out and upskill the youth for a promising economic future of the country.

Eaton Foundation Initiatives   

Eaton is a global power management company with 19 sites and more than 5500 diverse employees across India. The organization has always aspired to be a model of inclusion and diversity in the industry and proactively embraces the different ideas, perspectives, and backgrounds that make each of its employees unique. Reiterating the commitment to people welfare, Eaton has introduced several initiatives to power the youth of today:

• Eaton Scholarship Programs:  Eaton’s scholarship and mentorship programs Vidyavikas, Udayan Shalini and Pratibha aims to recognize and encourage meritorious students from low-income communities to continue and succeed in their education.  The programs include support for school fees, coaching classes and mentorship to the students who completed their 10th Std. in Pune, Ahmednagar, and Nashik.
  
  
• Eaton Fellowship Program – Eaton’s Teach for India fellowship program aims to build leaders in the education sector and provide access to good quality education in low-income schools.  The project includes the training and development of fellows who further become full time teachers and mentors to students from underprivileged backgrounds.
  
  
• Overall Development – Eaton’s objective to improve the general and reproductive health of adolescent students in low-income schools. The program includes awareness workshops, distribution of sanitary napkins and access to a counsellor that provides day-to-day support to students with the Adolescent wellbeing program with STREE MUKTI SANGHATANA. Projects like i2i and Garnishing talent at Cummins Maharshi Karve Stree Shikshan Samstha aims at overall development of our country’s young generation.

Employee Participation

The foundation believes that social change can only be driven through participation across sectors and encourages employees to actively participate in community development and youth skilling initiatives. Eaton volunteers have actively mentored youth on varied aspects related to career development, technical and soft skills and overall well-being during the Pandemic. They collaborate with partner institutions to develop content and conduct workshops on a range of skills that are essential for students as they prepare to be a part of the workforce.

This World Youth Skills Day, as we commend the youth on their resilience, let us also join hands to empower them with the skills required for many successful tomorrows.