Vocational Training – An alternative employment generator for Nagas to look beyond NPSC and Government jobs

Maggie Ron (Margaret Rongmei): What if Nagaland cannot accommodate all the Graduate/Masters, PhD’s under its official wing. What if you are not even a graduate or a Pre-degree Literate? We all at some point consider to apply, get into and promote our career. Not everybody is called, qualify or destined to hold a high profile position. But it’s certain and clear that every Naga regardless of any qualification background is born with immense ability to adapt and learn within the parameters of a given task. It’s time for youngsters to turn towards core vocational training. Now some may wonder what actually is Vocational Training? Vocational training is training for a specific career or trade, excluding the professions. Vocational training focuses on practical applications of skills learned, and is generally unconcerned with theory or traditional academic skills. A large part of the education in vocational schools is hands-on training. Vocational training thus provides a link between education and the working world. It takes only 3 to 6 months for someone to learn the trick of the trade.
I can name few core specific programs that one can think about if anyone is confused where to start...
• Automotive(Mechanic)
• Building and construction (Helper and technician)
• Food processing Technician
• Carpenter (Furnishing)
• Electrician (Industrial)
• Plastic molding Technician
• Machine Operators
• Security Guards
• Transportation
• Chef(Culinary Cook)
• Customer Service in any Business and retailing
• Network Cabling Specialist
• Landscaping technician
• Facilities Maintenance Mechanic
• Health Trainer and nutritionist
• Print Ad technician
• Videography and Television Broadcast
• Youth Worker And Social Services
• Creative Photography
• Hardware technician
• Tailor (Fancy Name - Fashion designer)
• Makeup artist
• Beautician ( Men - Barber)
• Spa
• Blacksmith ( Modern - Jimmy Choo)
The list is endless
Nagas need to work. It may sound offensive, but a 20 to 30 year old man/woman sitting in the house ideally while the old parents work is a bad example.

Samuel Pou: Excellent and timely sharing, Maggie Ron.  And our people must learn to respect the DIGNITY OF LABOR and not look down upon certain jobs for eg. blacksmith (I'd give my right arm to be in Jimmy Choo's shoes haha) . Each one of these jobs contribute to the society, economy and the nation ultimately. We are all cogs in a giant wheel. Thank you for your efforts!

Imkong Lkr: Wow! That’s a really long list!!! A really great post Maggie. I think it should be published in the newspaper because there will be many like me who got no info about such things & not everyone will log in to The Naga blog.

Teiso Yhokha: We talk about unemployment problem, but unemployment according to me is a terrible/ intimidating terminology that takes away a person's ability to be creative in a broader sense success or survival. In context to us Nagas, I believe stories of students outside Nagaland who never studied except till the last minute and eventually managing to get through leaving all their friends in awe is common(Though not the best of example to be bringing up here) anyway in a very simple way that speaks of our ability! One major hindrance is the mindset that government jobs are the most secured. Yes indeed there you have retirement benefits, but hey, dare to look out beyond into the vast sea of private sector. There is immense scope for employment and you don't necessarily need to have a capital to start. You just need to have the desire and the passion to do something that you love doing. No doubt one needs to have a lot of patience to maintain a profession as well. You need to start small(Something that we the Nagas fail miserably at!) and this is very important because most of the above courses and sectors mentioned above by Maggie Ron will train you to be specialised in a particular field/trait but will not guarantee you the post of a manager, but that does not mean that you will never become a manager also. If you have the patience and the persistence, willing to start small (you bank of experiences), have the passion with adapt, learn and grow attitude it is guaranteed you will excel.

Vikeduo Linyü: Instead of distributing power tillers and tractors which is turning everyone into farmers(In papers at least) and most of this gets sold off before they cross Dimapur. Sometime I wonder where the logic is, in hilly terrains some paddy plot are just the size of a dining table - how do you plow that with a tiller. For that matter how can a real farmer pay for the deposits to avail these? I will prefer giving the seeds or train the real farmer for a better harvest first. We can use the money spent on the machines for training even the school drop out in various vocational field. Till today I have never met a Local Naga guy who repairs an AC.