Reimagining Nai Talim

The virus lockdown exposes five regulatory hurdles, holding back an important pillar of learning's future: degree-linked apprentices

In 1937 Mahatma Gandhi used an education conference at Wardha to synthesise a framework for massifying experiential learning — Nai Talim — that aimed to overcome the artificial and harmful distinctions between learning and teaching, and knowledge and work. Unfortunately, Nai Talim never took off because the British Raj realised that massifying education endangered its survival and the post-1947 education policy neglected skill development. But the differential outcomes for skilled and unskilled wo­rkers during the virus lockdown have exposed the urgency of massifying flexible, low-cost, demand-driven skill de­velopment that innovates in financing and delivers signalling value. We make the case that online degree linked ap­prenticeships deliver these goals, but this innovation needs space with five regulatory changes.

The 21st century is blurring 20th-century educational firewalls between prepare, repair, and upgrade. Hard skills are now more valuable than soft skills, cu­riosity matters more than intelligence, and the key skill is learning how to learn (because Google knows everything). The education financing crisis means we need to configure for learning-while-earning. The employability crisis needs embracing learning-by-doing. The virus lockdown has forced the conservative education community to embrace digital learning; it is not ready to substitute physical learning, but the last month has surely surfaced strengths that bring forward its 2035 destiny to 2025. 

Combining digital learning, experiential learning, degree optionality, and employer financing could be the killer app that policymakers, parents, students, and employers have been looking for. But India has poor pre-existing conditions; only seven of the 993 universities are licensed for online learning, only 25,000 students are enrolled in online degrees (out of 37 million university students), only five lakh youth are enrolled in apprenticeships (if we had the same proportion of the labour force as Germany we would have 15 million), only 5,000 students are doing apprenticeships and degrees concurrently, and apprenticeship are only offered by 30,000 enterprises (out of a total 6.3 crore enterprises). And UGC’s skill initiative is failing because BVoc programmes launched in 2014 only allow 20 per cent on the job training; this birth defect means it has reached 0.08 per cent of university enrolments.

 

 

India should aim for 10 million students pursuing degree-linked apprentices in 10 years. This goal needs five regulatory changes:

• Under Clause 22, Section 3 of the UGC Act, approve degree-linked apprenticeship programme;
   
• Introduce and define “university” in Clause 2 of the Apprenticeship Act to enable all universities (including skills universities) to emerge as a key player in the apprenticeship ecosystem. The Apprentices Act needs the inclusion of “university” as the third party, which is currently restricted to “em­ployer” and “apprentice”. Like clauses 11 and 12 of the Apprentices Act, which define the roles and obligations of the employer and the apprentice, a clause needs to be introduced which elaborates the role of universities in executing apprenticeships. There has to be a tripartite arran­gement between the university, em­ployer and student apprentice. Cla­use 4 of the Apprentices Act, which elaborates the contractual arrangement be­tween an employer and apprentice should include the university as a third party in the execution of apprenticeships. Higher education continuity can be built on to the basic training as specified under Clause 9 of the Apprentices Act;
• Modify Clause 21 of Apprentices Act so that the approved universities can conduct necessary examination, along with participation from employers, and certify the apprentices accordingly. The uni­versity could also execute the role of governance like that of an apprenticeship adviser, which would need amendment in Clause 23 of the Apprentices Act, and that of the TPA (as per the Amended Apprentices Rules of 2015);
• Modify Clause 3 of the UGC Act to create space for skills university, amend clause 4 (1) of UGC Online Regulations notified in July 2018 specifying criteria to offer online programmes, and clause 7.2 for modular academic credit;
• Modify Clause 3.4 of the UGC Act to allow the universities to operate na­tionally like an open university without territory jurisdiction for running online degree-linked apprenticeship programme;
• Modify Clause 8 of the Apprentices Act to remove the licensing and cap on the universities for enrolling degree-linked apprenticeship students.

One of the many reasons India is poor is that 45 per cent of our labour force in agriculture only generates 14 per cent of our gross domestic product (GDP). In 1958, Nobel laureate Arthur Lewis wrote in EPW that the main remedy for the farmer’s ill must always be fewer farmers. China’s prosperity over the last two decades has been driven by a massive factory-centered learning-by-doing programme that pulled people off farms. India’s farm to non-farm transition is not happening to factories, but to services. But India’s current regulatory regime for universities and apprenticeships is out of sync with unrelenting and unstoppable changes in the world of work, organisations, and learning.

Most patriots of the independence struggle used the word Swaraj for independence, while Gandhiji made Indians aware of its true or original meaning: Swa-raj or self-rule. The Mahatma knew that the biggest enabler of self-rule was education. Five changes to our current regulatory regime would reimagine Nai Talim for the 21st century. Let’s create the space for employers and universities to partner because apprenticeships are an endeavour of profound optimism that can hasten productivity and prosperity. 

Sabharwal is with Teamlease Services; Kumar is with Teamlease Skills University