Addressing the Skills-Gap and Employability Crisis

Mumbai, India, February 05, 2016 --(PR.com)-- “Employers today look for employees who have clarity of thought, can solve problems and communicate clearly. In Mumbai, not a single person’s job depends on knowing facts that can simply be Googled. But facts are pretty much all that most schools teach. Why? What’s the logic?” demands Sriram Subramanian, one of the founders of Callido Learning - an educational initiative that works with the city’s leading schools. Sriram and his team of Ivy League graduates have been working to develop a skills curriculum for high school and college students.

In 2016, this is not a new problem. Buzzwords like “employability crisis” and “skills gap” have become part of tea-time conversations. National boards like the CBSE have taken note of this apparent gap between what the real world requires and what our schools teach. The National Curricular Framework (2005) clearly advocates the need to make classrooms more relevant. Putting this into practice, however, is a challenge as teachers openly admit.

“How can we expect a teacher with a class of over 45 to give students the one-to-one attention which they need for skill building? At most, we can hope to cover the syllabus required for exams but even this is difficult,” admits a Vice Principal at a major school in Bangalore. “Alternative curriculums like IB can do this by maintaining a very low student-teacher ratio. But this means they need to charge an extremely high fee which makes them accessible only to an elite minority.”

In the meanwhile, digital initiatives such as Callido make it possible for the average student to develop thinking, problem solving and communication skills. In doing so, they appear to break the link between student-teacher ratios and quality of education. Callido’s modules for critical thinking have been snapped up by several schools for their entire batches, and by independent students with a progressive mind-set.

“It helped of course that the digital modules gave the students flexibility to learn from anywhere, even at night when they are most active,” says Sriram. “This course is changing my life. I will always think like this!” reads a reflection penned by a student of grade 11. “This gave me so many ways of looking at a complex situation,” another 17 year old reflects.

“Classroom time with teachers is an extremely precious resource in schools. So we had to go digital. Plus there are all sorts of insights the data gives us which makes the learning very personalized for every student,” he beams. Until schools and examination boards are open to changing, this slightly nerdy team of Ivy League graduates is likely to be kept busy.

About Callido Learning LLP:
Callido Learning LLP is an organization run by Ivy League graduates to instil 21st Century skills in every student. Coming from varied international careers (in areas as diverse as law, politics, transport, planning, energy, management, tax and other field/discipline), this online interactive course platform called ‘Basecamp’ prepares students for skills like problem-solving, critical thinking, information, media literacy and research skills. The platform can be accessed by anybody, anytime, and anywhere around the globe.

For more information, contact: info@callidolearning.com