Six day week (2)

At current stage of development, our country requires to work six days a week.  5 day week is a luxury and privilege which is available to only a small percentage of population. People in Central Government, big Corporates and city schools. Even state government employees work six days a week in most of the states with second Saturday being off. In fact people who enjoy 5 day week are less than 5 percent of the working population.

Shopkeepers work six days a week. In fact seventh day is used by them to purchase the items from wholesalers. All daily wage workers want to work every day.  However they may not be lucky to get the work every day. Auto rickshaw drivers come out on road on Sundays also and are happy to get even if afew trips are available on that day. Farmers and village people do not know what is a weekly holiday. Maids and domestic helps take two holidays in a month.

Look around and you will find that 5 day week is a luxury that is available to only a minority of population. This minority is also most pampered. India at this stage of development cannot and should not keep pampering a privileged minority. We should revert to six day week. However one weekly holiday should be given without fail. (Remember. Our PM works 7 days a week.)

Future of Training

Many of our readers have asked if everything is available on web and google can search for you in an instant, then is this the end of training programs as we see it.

We do not believe it.

Let me ask you,

• "Can all the knowledge be acquired from reading by yourself?"
• “Is information or knowledge acquisition the purpose of training?”
• “If every child is provided with the text books, should schools be closed?”
• “Purpose of education is not merely knowledge acquisition.”
• “It is wholesome development of the child.”

Similarly the purpose of training is not just passing on the information or knowledge but to develop competencies. Competencies mean the right combination of knowledge, skills, attitude and values.

Human development does not take place in isolation. In fact, we believe that human development is an interactional phenomenon. Acquiring knowledge through self-reading is an important method of learning. However, it is for highly motivated individuals. It requires high focus and discipline. For many, it is somewhat boring. Particularly for extroverts.

In training room you do not get only knowledge. There is stimulation from the company and discussion. There is feedback. You are able to compare yourself with others. You learn how others think and argue. There is certification. The trainer approves or disapproves. This is important for making the learning stick.

E-learning is not going to replace training, it is going to enrich the training tremendously. Imagine the trainer is conducting the session. Every participant is having a tablet. The course material is downloaded to every one's tablet. You make notes on the tablet. After a gap, trainer wants to check how the trainees are doing and pops up a question. Every trainee answers the question on her tablet. Trainer gets the results immediately. If this multiple choice question is designed well, the trainer immediately knows how well he is doing his job. If majority has not got the answer correct, trainer will repeat this part. If a few have not got the answer correct, he engages them immediately and ensures that they also get the correct learning. The technology already exists for this. Infrastructure is awaited.

There are many other innovations that are going to happen. Training rooms will not be the same but they surely will be there. Video conferencing are going to become the norm to extend the training room beyond the physical room that we see now a days. We are excited about the future.   

September 12, 2015.