Electrical vocational training programmes for Sulabh workers!

Sulabh Vocational Training Centre for Children of Scavengers and Sulabh workers.

The Sulabh Foundation, since its inception, has set upon itself the task of uplifting the children of scavengers by innovative steps to enable their rehabilitation in society. The Sulabh Movement started with the objective to liberate and elevate the status of scavengers. Towards this, it adopted a two-pronged strategy; a state-of-the-art technology to reach sanitation facilities even to the poorest, and to bring scavengers in the mainstream of Indian society. The Sulabh International, under the inspiring leadership of its Founder, Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, branched into several inter-related activities meant not only to rehabilitate, socially and economically, those weaned away from scavenging, but also to restore their self-esteem and self-respect. Towards this, the Sulabh International Centre for Action Sociology (SICAS) was established in 1993. The main objectives were to develop a systematic understanding of the social, economic and psychological problems of scavengers or Balmikis and to evolve and implement a range of innovative, sustainable and replicable activities which would bring the Balmikis into the national mainstream.

Development of skills is important for all but crucial for the less educated. To the members of Scheduled Castes, including Balmikis, it has a pointed relevance. The Sulabh Vocational Training Centre aims to provide development and training in diverse skills to boys and girls from weaker sections of society, especially from Balmiki households, so that they use their newly acquired talents to the fullest and achieve better economic and social adjustment. Its main objectives are: to mobilize boys and girls from the weaker sections; to enable them to pick up market-oriented trades and thus enable them not only to earn a living, but also to help them towards developing confidence, self-esteem and reliance, for being absorbed in the national mainstream. The courses are so designed that they help students acquire skills which help towards self employment. There is a follow up programme to monitor the progress of each student in later life.

It offered adolescents vocational training programmes in keeping with market demands in the then Mumbai area. It has been quite successful and continues to attract the attention of both trainees and employers. Yet another centre was opened in Delhi in 1992. Presently it offers training in the following ten trades by way of six-month courses viz., (1) Audio-equipment and Television repair, (2) Beauty-care, (3) Computer, (4) Dress designing, (5) Electrical, (6) English Stenography, (7) Hindi Stenography, (8) Embroidery, (9) Tailoring, (10) English & Hindi Typing.

Source: www.sulabhinternational.org

This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at wfi @ vsnl.com and [email protected]