(MissionNewswire) With more than 1.2 billion people, India has the world’s fourth largest economy and according to UNICEF, is home to one-third of the world’s poor. Close to 217 million of India’s poor are children. Although more than 53 million people escaped poverty between 2005 and 2010, most remain vulnerable to falling back below the poverty line.

India’s youth face a lack of educational opportunities due to issues of caste, class and gender. Almost 44 percent of the workforce is illiterate and less than 10 percent of the working-age population has completed a secondary education. In addition, too many secondary school graduates do not have the knowledge and skills to compete in today’s changing job market.

According to the International Labour Organization’s Global Employment Trends 2014 report, the unemployment rate in India has been gradually increasing since 2011 when the rate was at 3.5 percent. The rate rose to 3.6 percent in 2012 and again climbed in 2013 to 3.7 percent. The unemployment rate is expected to continue to grow in 2014, according the report.

To address the need for skills training and workforce development for India’s poor youth, Salesian missionaries at the Don Bosco Technical School in Kolkata, the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, have formed a partnership with Yamaha Motor India Sales Pvt Ltd. The result of the newly formed partnership is the development of the first Yamaha Training Center at the Don Bosco Technical School.

The new Yamaha Training Center will follow Yamaha’s Technical Academy training program which was developed in India in 2002 from Japan’s formal Yamaha technician training curriculum. The academy coursework provides comprehensive technical education and expertise from the Yamaha factory with hands-on diagnostic and troubleshooting skills training.

Yamaha has a progressive certification training program with students graduating at beginner levels and working their way up through silver certification. Students who successfully complete the course at Don Bosco Technical School will graduate with a silver level certificate from India’s Yamaha Technical Academy.

“Technical skills training is critical to further developing India’s workforce,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Students need access to skills training that provides real world experience within industries that are hiring. The goal is to provide the technical skills necessary and assist students in the transition from the classroom into stable long-term employment.”

Don Bosco Technical School will help students to find and retain employment after graduation. Resume writing assistance, interview skill training and other social development services will be provided to the students as they work their way through the program.

The partnership is a win-win for both the Salesians and Yamaha. India’s poor unskilled youth are often pushed towards unemployment forcing them to remain in a cycle of poverty and hindering India’s overall economic development.

“Yamaha’s partnership with Don Bosco is meant to address this very concern by providing a platform to the economically weaker and unemployed youth to obtain job-oriented technical training in two-wheeler repair and servicing that meets industry standards,” said Mr. Masaki Asano, managing director of Yamaha Motor India Sales Pvt. Ltd.

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Sources

Don Bosco India – Don Bosco and Yamaha Motor India join hands to help under privileged youth

International Labour Organization – Global Employment Trends 2014 Report

UNICEF – India

Yamaha Technical Academy India