Escape Velocity

Platforms and Child Labour

Thanks for your kindness and support. As we continue to focus on role of digital technologies in transforming human life, I would like to highlight the innovations which have helped us survive and in fact do better during the current crisis. Covid19 has brought out the stark reality that our education ecosystem would be jolted to a “New Normal”. And of course, the platforms are going to play an extraordinary role in this transformation.

Platforms and Learning

Do share your feedback on this newsletter if you have not done it yet.

If you are reading for the first time, please subscribe for a weekly email discussing Running Platform Marketing Life. 

Thanks for reading So, What's the Big News ?! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

AND if you are a friend of the RPML, do share it with others. You can add more of your friends to the Community of Platform’ed by using the following link.

DTW

During the Week, World Children’s Day was celebrated on 19th November 2021 to reiterate our promise to children that we will not fail to protect them.

Pope Francis @Pontifex

Child labor is the exploitation of children. It is the denial of their rights to health, education, harmonious growth, to play, to dream. It means robbing children of their future, and therefore, humanity itself.

Unfortunately, there are still millions of children and young adults who have been left out of the current digital transformation and are bring still forced into unproductive work without wages and worth. In fact, we celebrated when five former child laborers from Bal Ashram make it to SRM Institute for higher studies but it highlighted the fact that we still have child labour in India. Last week Times of India reported that the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed 60%-70% of students into child labour in Tirupur district which is a textile hub in Tamilnadu.

Platform Businesses’ role in this critical transition plays out in two ways- First, as getting children out of child labour ; and Two, as enabling the learning ecosystem.

As per International Labour Organisation,

Globally over 1.5 billion people live in countries that are affected by conflict, violence and fragility. At the same time, around 200 million people are affected by disasters every year. A third of them are children. A significant proportion of the 168 million children engaged in child labour live in areas affected by conflict and disaster.

Government of India runs Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour (PENCIL) to tackle the child labour menace. This initiative has 109167  Mainstreamed from STC

Since launch of PENCIL, over one lakh former child labourers have been mainstreamed through the Special Training Centre (STC) while 54890 are currently enrolled.

Other initiatives like Fairtrade ensures an incentive system to keep children out of exploitative work conditions. Fairtrade changes the way trade works through better prices, decent working conditions and a fairer deal for farmers and workers in developing countries especially in agriculture which employs 70% of 152 million children who are still in child labour.

For a country like India, there are additional challenges. According to estimates by NineLeaps , there are 47 million school dropouts in India and 18% of the 15-24 age demographic is unemployed. To solve the technology accessibility problem, they have developed an Android app providing end-to-end vocational training programs for users across India which compatible with all types of devices and bandwidths.

Annette Francis who has been with the youth training arm of Pratham Education Foundation since 2018 writes about the urgency needed for vocational education in India;

India is a democracy with the youngest and largest workforce (over 500 million with an average age of 29), of which 81 percent of youth are employed by the informal economy, and only an approximate of 15 percent can claim to earn a salaried income. In this scenario, the world of artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation is restricted to a niche corner, while the larger majority is employed by agriculture, construction, and service sector work. If anything, the pandemic has exacerbated the need for valuing skilled individuals in both rural and urban India.

Of course, EdTech initiatives like VahVah are demonstrating the potential for other entrepreneurs to educate and prepare India’s young and dynamic population for their careers, training them in vocational skills so that they can find employment or run their own business.

OTW

Over the Weekend, we got the print copy of BrainFeed Magazine and were elated to see Aru Bisht featuring on the cover page. BrainFeed and White Canvas India had organised India 20 under 20 and after about 10 months of elimination rounds and live tasks , the final 20 were selected on 12th September 2021. These young boys and girls came from diverse backgrounds and represent hope for all of us.

It was interesting to see that the featured biographies were not only about school and/or studies but about their aspirations and zeal to do something for the larger humanity. Aru found herself in the company of chess prodigy to shooting champion to drummer to a future diplomat amongst many others with interesting dreams and talents.

As I have written earlier as well, it is not that you are privileged but what you do what with your privilege. Stay Blessed.

I Love You

Shailendra

OTM

Opportunities through MountainSpeak are available at Centre of Excellence for Digital Transformation (CeDT) that has been established at IBS Hyderabad. As our first activity, we are organising One-Day Symposium on Digital Transformation of Informal Sector- Challenges and Opportunities for EdTech in association with FES India Office. If you work for an EdTech or know somebody who does , please let us know if you would like to attend the symposium in- person (Yes, it is happening at IFHE Hyderabad Campus).You can fill up the following google form to receive an invite for the event

https://forms.gle/9TdJ7m24UpWPEqE57

And if you are someone who likes to express your thoughts and also loves to research on some interesting topics. We have got the best the opportunity for you! 

Topic : Digital Transformation of Informal Sector Challenges and Opportunities for Edtech
Date : 19th Nov to 27th Nov 2021
Prizes

1. Cash prize to the individual winners.             
2. Internship opportunities for IBS Hyderabad 1st year MBA students.

Show some magic and you'll get rewarded 

Registration Link: https://forms.gle/XRAH6734XpghJNdv9