The job boom is in education - source DNA

Other big markets in ’08 will be healthcare, hospitality

Priyanka Golikeri. Mumbai

Approximately one million new jobs will be created in the organised sector this year — with the education, health and hospitality industries being key drivers of the job market. That’s the message emanating from the annual employment survey undertaken by Ma Foi Consultants, a Chennai-based human resource service provider and staffing company. The education sector is the largest employer in the country, employing around 10.26 million people in 2007. It is likely to add another 1,66,005 by the end of this year. It is closely followed by the hospitality and healthcare sectors, which employed about 6.17 million and 3.32 million people, respectively, in 2007. Hospitality and healthcare would add another 4,26,668 and 2,95,829 people this year. “This was the striking aspect of the survey as these sectors have left behind the traditional favourites such as banking, financial services and insurance (BSFI), and information technology,” said K Pandia Rajan, managing director of Ma Foi. BSFI and IT would be adding only about 7,600 and 74,693 more people, respectively this year. The survey was conducted across 2,006 companies belonging to 22 organised sectors in the country. “We have a billion plus population which needs to be educated. There is currently a lot of activity happening in the education field. With government funding for education hiked from Rs 28,674 crore last year to Rs 34,400 crore in budget 2008-09, the sector will witness major transitions. This sector is the foundation on which other sectors rest,” says Anand Sudarshan, chief executive officer of Manipal Education. According Sudhakar Balakrishnan, CEO of HR firm Adecco India, the entire education market is pegged at Rs1,50,000 crore. “Not surprising then, that companies like Educomp are making the most of it by investing huge sums and setting up schools. We have companies like NIIT and Everonn hiring about 800-1,000 people a year. All this will only drive the sector further.” According to analysts, the market size of the tutorials sector in Mumbai alone is worth Rs200 crore. Over one lakh students depend upon tutorial classes in English medium and two lakh in Hindi and Marathi mediums. With the healthcare industry growing at 15% per annum, there will be greater demand for professionals, technicians, doctors, and health specialists, says VP Kamath, CEO of Apollo Hospitals, Mumbai. “Medical tourism is expected to become a $2 billion industry by 2010. This will only add to the job creation in the healthcare sector.” According to Ficci, an apex industry association, the healthcare industry has emer-ged as one of the most challenging sectors in India with estimated revenue of about $30 billion (in financial year 2005-06), comprising 5% of GDP. The survey further says that the real estate and construction industry has the highest percentage of outsourced workforce at 19% and is closely followed by the hospitality sector at 18.5%. It also says that experienced workers are hired more than freshers, who constitute a little more than a quarter of the newly hired. Sectors where the demand for freshers is above 30% include hospitality, energy generation and supply sector, IT-enabled services, mining and extraction. “Although there is optimism about young minds and fresh ideas, experience counts to a large extent,” says Rajan.

Get paid for performance in school!

Big debate in US: Should students be paid to excel?

Kids Should Be Inspired To Learn For Knowledge’s Sake: Critics

Jennifer Medina

The fourth graders squirmed in their seats, waiting for their prizes. In a few minutes, they would learn how much money they had earned for their scores on recent reading and math exams. Some would receive nearly $50 for acing the standardised tests, a small fortune for many at this school, PS 188 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
When the rewards were handed out, Jazmin Roman was eager to celebrate her $39.72. She whispered to her friend Abigail Ortega, “How much did you get?” Abigail mouthed a barely audible answer: $36.87. Edgar Berlanga pumped his fist in the air to celebrate his $34.50.
The children were unaware that their teacher, Ruth Lopez, also stood to gain financially from their achievement. If students show marked improvement on state tests during the school year, each teacher at Public School 188 could receive a bonus of as much as $3,000.
School districts nationwide have seized on the idea that a key to improving schools is to pay for performance, whether through bonuses for teachers and principals, or rewards like cash prizes for students.
New York City, with the largest public school system in the country, is in the forefront of this movement, with more than 200 schools experimenting with one incentive or another. In more than a dozen schools, students, teachers and principals are all eligible for extra money, based on students’ performance on standardised tests.
Each of these schools has become a test to measure whether, as mayor Michael R Bloomberg posits, tangible cash rewards can turn a school around. Can money make academic success cool for students disdainful of achievement? Will teachers pressure one another to do better to get a schoolwide bonus?
So far, the city has handed out more than $500,000 to 5,237 students in 58 schools as rewards for taking several of the 10 standardised tests on the schedule for this school year. The schools, which had to choose to participate in the program, are all over the city.
“I’m not saying I know this is going to fix everything,” said Roland G Fryer, the Harvard economist who designed the student incentive program, “but I am saying it’s worth trying. What we need to try to do is start that spark.”
Nationally, school districts have experimented with a range of approaches. Some are giving students gift certificates, Mc-Donald’s meals and class pizza parties. Baltimore is planning to pay struggling students who raise their state test scores. Critics of these efforts say that children should be inspired to learn for knowledge’s sake, not to earn money, and question whether prizes will ultimately lift achievement. NYT NEWS SERVICE

CASH REWARD: Ruth Lopez gives one of her students a certificate showing her earnings from test score