8. CAREER GUIDANCE AND VOCATIONAL COURSES - FROM A DALIT PERSPECTIVE

THE CAREER GUIDANCE AND THE VOCATIONAL COURSES

(THE CONCEPT PAPER)

• Sampath Kumar Thulasi

INTRODUCTION:

The programs of career guidance with a special stress on vocational courses are a serious requirement particularly in the present phase of transition of India forced by the various periodic storms surfacing from the tsunami of globalization.

Vocational course is a course that gives one some hands on skills with a basic theoretical understanding of the skill which provide an opportunity to fit into some specific eligibilities of some specific work in industrial or agricultural production or service sector.

THE BASIC QUESTIONS LIFE &LEARNING:

This is an attempt to understand this in some more detail in relationship with few other fundamental aspects of life of human beings in general and of those in India – the caste ridden, rather than the just class ridden, society.

Struggle to save one’s own life is natural. All creatures exhibit this. However life varies from creature to creature. And, that of human beings has a remarkable variation. The variation is that it has a meaning. The life of a human being has a meaning for the self and also for others in the community. If at all, we have to concede that the lives of all creatures too have a meaning of their own to each of them, then also this meaning is fixed for them by nature, never showing any visible change even across generations. But that of humans is different. The meaning has been a vigorously dynamic one.

Then the meaning of life of human beings, since this characteristic feature of meaning got attached to life, as a pathological attachment, has also been changing from this geography to that geography, from this community to that, from this context to that and from time to time.

How did such a remarkable characteristic feature emerge? Here it is sufficient to note its one word answer – ‘Labour’. The very typical shape of human body, the physical evolution, the mental evolution, the attribute of ‘thinking’, etc. – all are the contribution of Labour – THE HUMAN LABOUR.

The role of human labour continues. It has not only just gave the birth, among many, to the attribute of thinking but also has introduced and influenced the ways of thinking.

It continued. Sound was replaced by word. The word acquired a literal representation. Thus evolved language and languages. Language revolutionized the studies ( denoted by the popularly known word ‘education’ but by now the latter lost this meaning ) – the formal and informal learning and teaching.

Studies have become a powerful instrument for the growth of both an individual and the community as well. Study sharpened the edge of labour. However, labour alone remains to be the source that has been supplying the ever-new material and matter (subject) of studies.

Thus continued and continues this glorious entity – of labour and study – wherein the labour has been in the forefront and has been the vanguard of the development of that very entity.

The sharpness of the edge of labour effected by the intellect, started to influence the net product value of labour. Sharper the labour larger is the produce. That, the sharpness, influenced the wages – the salaries and their subsequent variation.

Whoever it may be, if one has to survive one has to work. The only difference, that emerged with the emergence of studies is, the labour powered with studies and the labour not powered with studies – or to attempt to put it to sound more accurately – the labour powered with intense studies and the labour powered with moderate studies. Fine! Fine is all this!! But the power of studies slithered towards only a few. This has been the greatest mistake of evolution (to be corrected for definite). It may be noted that even before the faculty of studies evolved as a component of human activity and of human society, the very human society was already divided into haves and have-nots. Studies became the property of only haves. In all countries and nations across the globe this happened. However, in India, typically, some thing more of this dichotomy of haves and have-nots happened. It is the varna dichotomy – the savarna and avarna dichotomy enveloping a myriad of castes and sub-castes differentiated horizontally and vertically.

It is in this – such a deep and wide – back drop we have to think about and look into our need – the need to survive in the context – even if that special arrangement needed is straightly visible and simply perceivable.

THE CONTEXTUAL SURVIVAL AND ESSENTIAL SURVIVAL:

This straight visibility and the simple perceptibility are what with which we are to be cautious. If we fall a prey to this we may at best have gained the arrangement for a survival in the context (we call this a contextual survival) at the cost of forgetting to yearn for essential survival. A contextual survival is never the essential survival. We should not be contented with mere contextual survival. Firstly, it is not the essential survival – the basic match for a human being. Secondly, contextual survival is the most vulnerable and unprotected existence.

Constrained by cruel and conspiratorial social compulsions against enjoying the facility of essential survival we are forced to take up carrying out efforts for contextual survival and not because that the mere contextual survival is the sole survival. This we should never forget. Also, never let our fellow caste people to forget this.

The astronomical figures of school less children – either as dropouts or as never admitted – are quite disturbing. More than 90% of them, indisputably, constitute the dalits. In the state of A.P. alone the number of children of the ages 4 to 15 who are not going to school is 40 lakhs. What a mass deprivation! Still the government people and their stooge academic choir are shameless to speak about their achievements. It means, so many of this age group are lurking in child labour or ‘child-sitting’ or unsettled and all with an un-assured future. As we move up the scale of age group the number of unsettled increases. Again, at any level, it is the dalits who constitute more than 90 % of them.

All these lakhs crores of children had the dreams or their parents dreamt for them of essential survival but now are forced to think immediately of the contextual survival.

THE REGULAR TRACK OF EDUCATION:

The regular track of education and higher education is oriented towards the facility of those who want to and, mind you, who also can go to the highest course in one single sweep. Not that they are capable of such, nor is that they perform well in studies. It is because their studies are highly funded, pampered and supported continuously with such a guard that every time they fall there is some one to keep them up again and there is some resource that they can purchase for any cost and use that resource to put them up again. But for our dalit children, there is no such support even, of a lower and base minimum level and what to speak of supports to put them up when they fall.



Fig 1 : A diagram to portray the sequence of upward steps in the regular track of education and the most likely place where we land up in case of any break in the intermediate levels.



This track doesn’t suit the vast majority of our dalit children. Why?

Because, though they too need to enter into and study the highest course they can’t do it in a single sweep.


THE DALIT TRACK OF EDUCATION PROPOSED FOR PRESENT

For many a reasons our dalit children and youth have to take a break now and also later before they reach the heights.

THE CONSTRAINTS:

The very limited number of opportunities in higher education is one reason. Secondly, they are not considered for jobs except under reservation in the government vacancies. Then the quality of education imparted to them is another cruel reason. It declares them ‘unfit’. Then come the various other severe financial problems and responsibilities for individuals which is very wider and common for dalit youth and children. Many of them loose parental support from the age of 10. At 15 quite a number of them should support the aging parents – aging much early in their 30s and 40s – or support still younger brothers and sisters. Though lakhs of them are surviving without dying and are not bed ridden though starved, every individual cannot take this fact as an assurance for his / her case too. The assurance comes from the hopes of and the visible possibility of essential survival. As a result, every individual dalit feels incapable of planning for and of execution of those plans for essential survival. What remains is the effort for contextual survival.

That is what we observe, at which a majority of our dalit youth are. The option is, not bypassing the contextual living. We are not gifted so. We do not have such facility. Nor, do we have the power to gain that facility. Till the power comes into our hands we can’t bypass the contextual living. The only option left for us is what kind of contextual living. This is where our wisdom and power of wit should hit.

THE LOFTINESS OF OUR TARGETS SHOULD BE INTACT:

In the present era of human advancement one shouldn’t be severed, whatever be the needs of contextual survival, from the path of studies till higher education to ensure the essential survival.

All care must be taken to continue the link with the stream of studies though a contextual survival is forced and hence sought.

Best among such options is training in vocational courses.

The more suited track for our dalit children, till the compulsion of contextual survival continue, is portrayed in fig 2 below.



Fig 2 : A Figure Portraying the Appropriate Track For our Dalit Children and Youth.


The government has a policy related to vocational courses from their own need to serve the industry and other savarna needs. It also conducts few courses. But again even in this the dalits are harassed. It conducts almost all of them in English medium! How shamelessly policying!!

What the government has as a policy on this question is of less serious implication than the need to think and formulate for ourselves as what it should be from our own perspective and to pressurize the government for the implementation of the same. Few of the points that may be listed are: 1. The Vocational Courses must be conducted in the Local Tongue, 2. They must be included as part of the regular schools till Higher Secondary Level, 3. The component of vocational subjects must be relatively more at PLUS 2 Level, 4. They must be designed based on the local employment & work requirements and should assure the earning, 5. The track should have its own special continuity till the highest courses with a scope at every level either to continue in this special track or to enter into the general track, 6. The institutes must take the responsibility of showing the work after the completion of course designed and/or conducted by them, 7. All the Employers of such candidates must be enforced to give them the complete scope to pursue the higher education while in service, 8. English must be taught with sensible and effective programs, etc.

Vocational courses have a long history of two centuries the world over. There are research institutes and national forums in many of the countries. There is much advancement in the approaches. There are many achievements. A lot can be learnt from it straight away to effectively apply them in our context.

The Indian context throws a very big challenge for the modern approaches to vocational courses from the need of dalits – the vast majority of the Indian population.

It also must be seriously noted that the very urge to study, continue to study till the highest levels and study seriously till the core of the themes taken up each time for study is thoroughly understood – all these and their importance have to be stressed. The career guidance should not be limited to the sessions at the end of a specific course or a level in the ladder of studies – the education ladder. As part of the career guidance the needs of the ongoing study also are to be drawn together to make it sweepingly excellent and never and nothing less than that – the excellence. Career guidance is not a one shot program. It is a periodical, multi-faceted and multi-session program with continuity.

Hence, the career guidance program with this perspective should be conducted very extensively by stressing the salient features of this perspective.

We, the present generation of grown ups among the dalits need to take up this responsibility. Many centers and contact places and persons in cities and towns are to be identified for this purpose at the earliest. We have many resource persons to get successful results in this effort.

Immediately on the first instance the dalit children and adolescent and matured youth have to be supplied with the information on already existing vocational courses and the associated details. The perspective laid down herein and its salient features are to be appropriately transmitted keeping their respective compatibilities thoroughly in mind. In every session the need to study, continue to study and study to the core be stressed.

The special track of education with ever increasing component of vocational and job oriented courses which also continue to keep the doors for higher studies both in regular and special tracks open is to be designed more elaborately and fitting to each context of region, sub-region, and individual financial position and sub-conscious volitions.

It is also the need of the hour for our coordination, grouping together and effectively lobbying in the corridors of power with all the organized strength that we can derive from our community from every corner and every angle.

The way the dalits are to be educated be formulated by us. Thus, the education in India be redefined.

Let our hands and laps be the guards for the emerging new generation of our dalits.