Training the Unemployable:
A Portrait of the Barefoot College
Winner of the 1995 ESCAP HRD Award
The philosophy of the Barefoot College, winner of the 1995 ESCAP
HRD Award, is simple. Village youth are trained by their peers in higher
skills that do not require degrees.
The skills taught are aimed at providing basic services to villagers:
safe drinking water, sanitation, education and health care. The College
is a non-formal training institute where young men and women are given
practical skills by village teachers, often without formal qualifications.
Teaching and learning are based on the day-to-day needs of the villagers.
The Barefoot College was chosen by a jury as the winner of the 1995
ESCAP HRD Award for its innovative approach in addressing the issue
of promoting productive employment for youth. Youth unemployment
takes away opportunities from people in a crucial stage of their personal
development. In some countries, the influx of young people into the
employment market is an acute problem. The numbers of youth entering
the labour force is increasing particularly in countries with high fertility
(see related story). Unemployment among youth
is on average four times higher than among non-youth. Increasingly,
community-based initiatives such as those of the Barefoot College, supporting
informal sector activities, promoting self-employment and entrepreneurship,
are necessary to address the problem.
With the simple approach of the Barefoot College, remarkable achievements
have been made. Two generations of teachers, doctors and engineers have
passed through the College. They are now providing basic services to
support their communities. Once considered "unemployable",
these graduates have become productive members of their villages.
"We have done nothing new. We have just used
the skills already existing among rural communities..."
Rural youth have been trained and employed to run schools for boys and
girls; training camps and workshops have been organized to upgrade the
skills of young artisans. Trained as engineers and mechanics, the youth
are providing such services as installing and maintaining solar electricity
systems to provide basic lighting, and installing hand pumps to provide
safe drinking water to over 1.8 million villagers. Since 1972, some
1,300 hand pumps were constructed in villages and are being maintained
by rural youth, all graduates of the College. Also, some 80 night schools
are providing literacy skills which benefit from a solar electrification
system installed by the graduates.
Explaining the philosophy of the College, its director, Mr Bunker Roy,
has stated: "The Barefoot College has done nothing new. We have
just used the systems and skills already existing and accepted among
rural communities." Why is such a simple approach so difficult
to replicate? According to Mr Roy, "it is because we don't trust
communities enough. We do not think the youth have the ability and analytical
skills to identify and solve their own problems." Often, villagers
are faced with people from an alien culture - doctors, teachers, engineers,
sent from government centres with formal diplomas to provide services
in the villages. "Experts and planners coming from an urban environment
do not have faith in long-term processes. As a result, low-cost community-based
alternatives, staring at us in the face, are never tried."
"Why is such a simple approach so difficult
to replicate? Because we don't trust communities enough."
The theme for the 1995 Award was selected in commemoration of the
tenth anniversary of the International Youth Year. The search for a
winner commenced in early 1995. Candidacies were open to individuals
and organizations, in both the Government and NGO sectors, in developing
ESCAP countries. Areas of work included education and training, employment
promotion, income generation and self-employment, enterprise creation,
and credit extension. A total of 55 applications were submitted for
the 1995 Award from 19 countries in the region. An international jury
of experts met in February 1996 to screen the applications and make
the final selection.
Some of the highlights of the work of the Barefoot College were shown
in a short film during the Award presentation ceremony on 22 April 1996.
Through the Award, the College's work will hopefully serve as a source
of inspiration for further efforts to promote productive employment
among youth in India and other countries of the region.
The College can be contacted at: The Social Work and Research Centre,
Tilonia 305816, Madanganj District, Ajmer, Rajasthan, India, telephone
(91) 1463-8804, fax (91) 1463-8806, or send directly an e-mail
message.
© 1997-2001 United Nations ESCAP.
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