Background of the Project

• This is my suggested solution model for the state-level inter-university research competition "Avishkar - 2018," which took place in January 2019. My university, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad (MH, India), awarded me first prize in the category of Commerce and Management, and I represented my university at the Maharashtra state level.

• The first round was based on poster presentation which was followed by a detailed presentation.

• The competition mainly focuses on identifying the social problems and proposing a solution.

Problem Statement

The education system faces a multifaceted crisis characterized by a high dropout rate, decreasing enrollment rates in higher education, persistent absenteeism, disappointing learning outcomes, a lack of prioritization for vocational training, and an inability to adapt to the evolving demands of the growing economy.

These issues collectively hinder the development of a skilled workforce and equitable access to education, demanding comprehensive reforms and policy changes to secure the educational and economic future of the nation.

Process

The Design Thinking Approach has been adopted to identify the reasons of the problem and to propose the solution.

Empathize

• In the next decade, economic analysts predict that India’s economy will rise to the third largest in the world, following only the US and China. But despite rapid economic growth, unemployment is rising. (Forbes, May 2018)

• The country’s low skill intensity and low education attainment present a major challenge in preparing the workforce. (Forbes, May 2018)

• Around 30% of youth aged 15-29 are neither employed nor in education or in training despite Govt taking many initiatives to decrease the dropout rates. (OECD Economic Survey India -2017)

• Large sections of educated workforce have little or no job skills, making them largely unemployable.( National Employability Report: Aspiring Minds, 2016)

• It is estimated that only 4.7% of the total workforce has undergone formal skill training.(Govt. of India 2015b, Mehrotra et al 2015 and Wheebox, 2016 : Cited in OECD Economic Survey India -2017)

• High Dropout rate

• Decreasing enrollment rates in higher levels of education

• Absenteeism among the enrolled students

• Learning outcomes are still disappointing and have failed to improve. ( OECD Economic Survey India -2017)

• Vocational training still has not been prioritized. (Forbes, May 2018)

• The mainstream education system has not been able to meet the demands of the growing economy. (Forbes, May 2018)

Key Insights - Current Scenario

Major Concerns

Education is a complete system & students are the users of that system. I tried to empathize with the students to understand their journey of getting education & pain points faced in this process. I performed extensive secondary research and stakeholder interviews during this phase.

Define

In the Define phase I created students' personas, empathy maps & students' journey map to understand the whole system in detail.

Student Personas

By secondary & primary research, I figured out that in education systems students get effected by mainly two factors viz. Internal factors & external factors.

Hence, I made two personas, each representing the students, which usually get influenced by two factors

1. Persona affected by Internal Factors (Attitude, Aptitude, Behaviors, Interest, motivation etc. )

2. Persona affected by External Factors (Availability of Courses, Availability of resources, Finances, Family Supports etc.)

1- Persona affected by Internal Factors

2- Persona affected by External Factors

(Attitude, Aptitude, Behavior, Interest, Motivation etc.)

(Availability of courses, Resources, Finance, Family Support etc.)

Empathy Map for Persona 1

Empathy Map for Persona 2

Empathy Maps

Students' Journey Map based on Current Scenario

The whole journey of students turning into skilled workforce or dropouts has been mapped out to understand the whole process.
Students’ journey right from enrolling into the schools and completing or leaving the education has been observed in detail.
Factors which influence their journey has also been highlighted in this journey map.
To become skilled workforce, students mainly go through 3 stages of education viz. Primary Education, Secondary Education and Higher Education.
At every stage various factors influence their further journey paths. These factors are similar to some kind tests and they are Pain Points for the students, which decide their future course of actions.

• Performance in exams

• Aptitude

• Attitude

• Finances

• Availability of Resources

• Family Support

• Other Factors

Define

Pain Points

Ideate

• To break the vicious cycle of dropouts, unskilled and mismatched workforce, this model initially focuses on primary education i.e. students of 7th standard or 12+ years old adolescents.

• After successful implementation of this model at primary level of education, the same model can be adopted at every level of education to get more refined skilled workforce.

Ideate

• Involving Students, class teachers, subject teachers, parents.

• Filter in the Model will be activated in the second term of the academic year.

• Evaluating the students in terms of their IQ, EQ, Aptitude, Creativity, Interests, Hobbies, Attitude & Behavior, Strengths & Weaknesses with the help of different psychological test tools. Experts will be consulted in this regard.

• The views of the class teachers and subject teachers will be taken regarding the student.

• Parents’ opinions & expectations of respective students will also be taken into consideration using appropriate tools.

• After complete satisfactory evaluation of each student, the reports will be prepared for every individual student.

• The reports will include the Strengths & Weaknesses of the students. On the basis of strengths & weaknesses, the students will be suggested the measures for improvement, directions for future actions, & solutions to problems if any.

• The Govt. schemes, training programs & other initiatives would be suggested to the students in sync with the evaluation reports.

For the Development of the Model

Ideate

• Reduced dropout rate, as experts’ advice will help the students to choose the best opportunities instead of dropping out

• Increased enrollment rate in higher education and various training programs as per experts’ suggestions

Expected Impact of the Model

• Financial & social problems of the students & their parents will be addressed effectively

• Motivation for higher attendance & lower absenteeism

• Channelized skills & interests of the students will result in better outcomes.

• Would enable teachers to focus more on refined students & to give better results

• Enrollment in certified skill courses will increase at an early stage resulting in better employment.

• Demand of timely & rightly skilled workforce will be met

• The proactive approach will help to identify the various issues of students and their education well in advance and will enable to frame suitable initiatives & schemes

Prototype & Test

• Identifying the level of understanding & responding of students

• Designing the most feasible options for the model e.g. Computer based assessments or paper based assessments or in any other form.

• Designing generalized tests or specially designing test region specific or demographic specific. Because many tests are subjective in nature. Further, it should not be an additional burden on the students.

• Resources required for implementing the model, e.g. computers or devices for tests, staff for assisting students, trainers to train the staff, experts to evaluate the tests and prepare reports etc.

• Designing easily understandable formats of the reports.

• Time & duration to conduct the assessments.

• Authorities to design & implement the model.

• Funds required for designing and implementing the model.

• And many other detailed researches to plan, design & implement this model

Further Research Required for the Development & Implementation of the Model

Bibliography

• Aspiring Minds (2016), National Employability Report- Engineers

• Becker, Gary S.(1962), Investment in Human Capital: A Theoretical Analysis : Journal of Political Economy 70, no. 5, Part 2

• Green, Cary J. (2017), Success Skills: For High School, College, and Career : Dog Ear Publishing

• Mallya P. (2018), India Is Creating Millions Of High Skilled Jobs, But Its Education System Isn't Keeping Up : Forbes

• MCEECDYA, (2010) The Australian Blueprint for Career Development, prepared by Miles Morgan Australia, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra. Available at: www.blueprint.edu.au.

• OECD (2017), OECD Economic Surveys: India 2017, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/eco_surveys-ind-2017-en.

Thank You