GRAS Academy is the pioneer in introducing a vocational skills training institute in India. Their no-frills approach to vocational and special industry oriented courses gives the underserved youth of the country the chance of finding skilled and hence a better paying employment. GRAS Academy offers training in the field of computers, IT, banking and financial services, mobile repairing, nurse training, personality development, English speaking training and more and is viable option for most economically backward households given its reasonable course fee structure. GRAS’s tie-ups with several State Governments, the Central Government, NGOs and international bodies facilitates the dispensing of this no-frills educational program through which the youth in both rural and urban settings with a history of early school drop-outs and families with low income generating prospects have benefited. However, recent investment plans of GRAS have resulted in a focus on special income groups.
GRAS is in an existing partnership with the Rajasthan State Government in order to provide industry oriented courses and job placements for youth under the Govt.’s mission to promote livelihoods for the poor of the state. GRAS is also a certified training institute in accordance with the 350 highlighted trades across several industries for skilling by the Govt. of India under the PPP mode. GRAS is also partners with several international organizations and private sector companies primarily to promote services in the line of retail and hospitality. In looking to expand its business over the next 4 years GRAS has declared an investment of INR2.2billion ($44mn). While an inflow of INR 620 mn ($12.4 mn) towards this end has come from National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), an inflow of another INR 90mn ($1.8mn) was announced on December 14, which would come from MSDF (Michael and Susan Dell Foundation).
Their initial equity investment of INR 90 mn ($1.8mn) is subject to the condition that these funds would go toward training the children whose family incomes are below INR 13000 ($260) per month. This translates into a focus on the low income segment of the rural and urban population in the operational Small Training Centres (STCs) and mini Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs).
This means that children and youth coming from the BoP sector will be able to avail quality vocational education curriculum, which in itself will be enhanced by the influx of MSDF’s global knowhow. While the remaining INR 1.49 bn ($29.8) will come from GRAS’s promoters and their own business generated fund, MDSF’s involvement has made the role of youth and children from BoP sectors, in a way, mandatory to installation of the scaling process. According to Mr Gautam Sengupta, Director, GRAS, GRAS’s experience and MSDF’s support will make entrepreneurs out of the underserved youth, and motivate their participation in productive activity. The consequent prospect of financial inclusion over the long run alone is a star on the horizon for many, and perhaps what MSDF had foreseen while making this investment.
With formal educational statistics proclaiming that 15% of Indian students reach high school, and 7% of them graduate (this data not necessarily including the BoP masses of rural India), importance vocational education in elevating the level of income vis-a-vis what the BoP youth would have earned without skilled training is obvious. This guarantees job security for many of these youths, without having to rely on unskilled day-to-day labor. With the potential entry of Foreign Retail expansion measures, despite the spirited, yet debatable opposition, India’s unbalanced wealth distribution scenario has a chance to see recovery only if there is enough skilled labour to meet the demands.
GRAS’s history of efficiently serving 1.3mn underprivileged youth over the past ten years is reason enough to see this particular development as a cheerful prospect for the youth at the base of the pyramid population in India.