Training for green sustainable careers

The 7th International Conference on Sustainability Education (ICSE) at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, was timely. With the world against climate clocks and youths seeking meaningful jobs, the theme -Sustainability Education for Green Jobs - was a call in time. 

ICSE has developed as a melting pot of innovation where concepts are moulded into actionable solutions. The subject for the current year, 'Green Jobs', captures the need to impart skills to young minds that will empower them to steer a green economy. "We need to link education to jobs so that our growth is with the world," Chairman Mobius Foundation Pradip Burman adds.

Education is still the passport to speeding up progress.

India's green job sector presently is in isolation. Even though demand for solar installation occupation, green building occupation, eco-agriculture occupation, waste management occupation, and circular economy solution occupation is increasing, supply of trained manpower is far behind. Green industry career opportunities are not illustrated before the students at all and vocational training courses are in the infancy stage and not so accessible.

Green awareness infrastructure and green skills in rural and semi-urban regions are lacking. Policy intervention has increased in recent years. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, NITI Aayog, and Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship have initiated action to embed sustainability into education and training systems. Environmental literacy, experiential learning, and vocational readiness are highly prioritized by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. Implementation is uneven with a

There have also been attempts by private and non-governmental actors to fill this gap. Initiatives like that of the Mobius Foundation have initiated programs which connect education with real sustainability challenges - i.e., in poor communities. These are all short of spanning the scale that needs to be bridged if India's employment and climate goals are ever going to be met. One thing is certain: sustainability education can no longer be a bolt-on - it must become the central pillar of economic resilience. Unless there's a concerted effort at preparing young people for green new jobs, India will not only lose on climate, but decent livelihoods as well. While climate shocks and automation menace traditional jobs, the green economy can itself be a jobs creator - if harnessed. Three shifts shape the trajectory of green jobs for India. Education systems have to converge with market forces first. School, college, and skill center curricula have to provide courses on green technologies, green ways of doing development, and entrepreneurial skills. Second, it has to be inclusive. Youths, women, and other underprivileged groups need to be brought into this revolution through community-based training models, outreach, and scholarships. Third, industries have to actively cooperate with education providers in a bid to provide an sustainable supply of work-ready professionals and innovators.

Festivals such as ICSE are a sign of increasing consciousness about needs like these. But consciousness must be met with change. India not only takes the lead in the world in terms of clean energy production but also in producing a workforce driving the green economy. Leadership would be a matter of how quickly promise and practice meet halfway. With the ticking of the world climate clock, the call to action cannot be ignored.

The green jobs vision should never be a policy catchphrase. It needs to become a fact-of-life day-to-day reality - for students learning in classrooms, for workers training in facilities, and for communities wanting to build with a sense of sustainability. Sustainability education needs to emerge from the conference rooms and reports as a grassroots movement.