SP Sinha addresses the CII conclave in Patna on Saturday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, July 27: Delegates voiced their opinions and offered suggestions on the best human resource practices to be used in government, public sector undertakings and corporate sectors.

Speakers deliberated on raising the skill level of employees and stemming the school dropout rate at a conclave jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and National Human Resource Development (NHRD).

S.P. Sinha, the chairperson of CII Bihar State Council and chief patron, NHRD, Patna chapter, welcomed the guests. Rahul Akhaury, the chairperson of Vernajyoti Educare, focused on skills to bring back school dropouts.

Akhauri said: “Poverty, quality of school education, teacher-student ratio, environment (how the teacher behaves), lack of infrastructure, distance of home from school and others are some of the reasons for students dropping out.”

He added: “Lack of individual attention is also a major reason for students dropping out.” Akhaury said: “Whenever there is a dropout, the pupil is blamed for not studying. If a child commits suicide, the teachers get away by saying he did not prepare for his examination. Unless teachers are pressurised, incidences of dropouts would not decline.”

Akhaury said: “The directorate general of employment and training (DGET) course can be made available at the school level. If a child is good at tailoring, the course provides options for the kid in that field even if he/she is not good in academics. This would be helpful, especially in rural areas.”

Arvind Kumar Chaudhary, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Jeevika, Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion Society, said: “The target of the state government is to train one crore people in five years, of which 15 lakh have to be trained by Jeevika in one year. We are in the process of hiring people. The training agencies should come forward.”

Dilip Chenoy, the CEO and managing director of National Skill Development Corporation, said: “Ours is a nation of youngsters. We have the advantage of reaping them only if we are able to provide employment to them.”