Provide our youth with skills and the opportunities will follow

Patna in Bihar, India is a place where you run into development experts from around the world from the World Bank to the Asian Development Bank, UK Department for International Development, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The challenges and opportunities in Bihar are what draw all of these developments experts to Patna. Bihar is one of the most fertile parts of the world – especially northern Bihar where eight rivers flow from the Himalayas, yet it remains one of the poorest States in India. Twenty years ago when I came to Patna all I saw was hopelessness, people felt they had no future. This time around the scene is very different, one sees hope and the possibilities of change everywhere. 

Fatima, Suresh and Deepak Kumar are just three of the several young people I met who personify this hope. I was here to visit the work we are doing in partnership with the Aga Khan Rural Support Program (AKRSP) training rural youth in basic computer skills in two districts of north-central Bihar – Samastipur and Muzaffarpur. 

A two hour ride through narrow rural roads brought us to a Madrasa (a religious school) where the enlightened village and Madrasa leadership has allowed AKRSP to set up a Microsoft computer training center. In a small room there were about 25 students, mostly girls, clustered around computers and the rest listening to a lecture. I spoke with them to learn more about their background and experience, and how they thought learning computer skills will help them advance. Fatima, a dynamic young lady in a hijab who is studying botany at the local university was very keen to share with me why she and her sister were here. She wants to use the computer to further advance her studies and also wants to study biology. There are no computers at her college and she feels that without this knowledge she will not be able to advance in her work. In this very small village she is connected to young people from around the world through technology – she and her sister both have a Facebook account. All of these students were of the firm belief that with training and skills they can break out of the cycle of endemic poverty.

At the next stop we met with twenty men all of whom had learned how to repair mobile phones. Every one of the young men after completing their course opened a small mobile phone repair shop and each earns between 8-10 thousand Rupees a month, for many this is more than three times their previous income. All of them were able to secure a bank or family loan on the basis of the certificate of completion they had from AKRSP. They all claim to have a brisk business and are especially happy that there are so many phones that need a lot of small repairs. When we spoke about whether they are seeing a growth of the use of computers in the area they all agreed and noted that with computer repair training they would be able to grow their business. The confidence and pride in these young men was very exciting to experience. 

Suresh is an amazing story of a young man from the very small village of Muraul of Samastipur soon to be employed at ICICI Bank (one of India’s premier financial institution) as a data entry operator. He will earn 12,000 Rupees a month which for him would have been unheard of just one year ago. 

These are just three of many examples of young people who have furthered their economic opportunities through good training, a little fire in the belly and dash of attitude to build their cocktail of success.