PG Certificate for Vocational Trainers: A Unique Leadership Program by Empower Pragati

The first batch of Post Graduate Certificate Course for Vocational Trainers is now completing four weeks of intensive classroom training (check out updates on https://www.facebook.com/pgcvt ). It has four more weeks to go before the students start their internship in the different skill centres of Empower Pragati (www.empowerpragati.in), where they will get real life experience on running a centre, motivating the underprivileged youth, getting them skilled and employed.

We spoke to the students to understand what, according to them, made PGCVT a unique course. Here is what they said:

1. Industry-relevant Course: The course covers all aspects of being a facilitator, creating social impact and managing a profit centre. It is almost like an MSW and MBA hybrid crash course but completely contextualised for the Skilling Industry. The design and content has inputs from practitioners and Industry Leaders, put together by Instruction Design experts.

2. Faculty Range: Along with training experts, a large number of industry leaders, from an eminent social entrepreneur using mobile technology to connect to the rural masses, to the leading figure behind the country’s Sanitation program, have been helping the students understand different aspects of social change and its enablers. Management experts have been acting as mentors and guiding the students on corporate principles of quality and excellence. A leading documentary film-maker helped the students understand the basics of capturing testimonials, case studies in the form of short films and so on.

3. Passionate Students: While it’s a heterogeneous batch of students, with Engineers, Arts Graduates and MSWs, they are all united by their commitment to social change. It’s very motivating for them to be with a group which is passionate enough to leave usual career choices and take up nation building. The students said that they see Peer Learning in practice in class – “there is no sense of competition, only a sense of commitment” one student said. Therefore they feel responsible for taking each other along, on this journey of learning. Students good at a subject have been taking classes for the other students who are not, on their own initiative. “It’s a small group – we want everyone to successfully finish the course and get into action. We can’t leave anyone behind”.

Other Vocational Training Providers and key stakeholders are happy that the quality gap in Skilling has finally been recognised and a concrete step has been taken. The CEO of one such organisation summed up the benefits of our course to the students, saying “Your students are a complete package. We will finally be able to have trainers who also understand business, while keeping their focus on the end beneficiary”.