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Education and livelihoods

Education and youth skills

Computer labs, teacher support and a route from a government school into a technical job that pays.

  • 310

    School labs supported

  • 4,800

    Students in the skills course

  • 71%

    Placed within six months

  • 12 mo

    Mentoring after placement

Why this work

What the problem actually is.

The gap we see is not ambition, it is exposure. Students in the schools we work with are as capable as any others; they have simply never met an engineer, never touched a working router, and never had anyone explain that the jobs exist at all.

So the programme runs from the classroom to the first payslip. Labs and teaching support in schools; a telecom and IT skills course for school leavers built with the people who actually hire; and then the unglamorous part that most programmes skip - interview practice, travel money for the interview itself, and someone to call in the first month of the job.

Placement is the only number we treat as real. Attendance and certificates are easy to produce. A young person still in the same job twelve months later is not.

Who this is for: Government-school students in classes 6-12, school leavers aged 17-24, and the teachers who run the labs.

What we do

The work, specifically.

Each of these is funded with its running costs included - stipends, repairs, follow-up - because that is what decides whether it survives past the first year.

  • School computer labs

    Built, stocked and maintained, with the electricity and connectivity budget included rather than assumed.

  • Teacher support

    Training and a monthly stipend for teachers running the lab, because unpaid extra duty quietly stops.

  • Telecom and IT skills course

    A 16-week course for school leavers - networking fundamentals, field practice, workplace English, safety.

  • Scholarships

    Fees and living support for students continuing into diploma and degree engineering.

  • Placement and first-year support

    Interview preparation, travel costs, employer introductions and a mentor for the first twelve months.

  • 310

    School labs supported

  • 4,800

    Students in the skills course

  • 71%

    Placed within six months

  • 12 mo

    Mentoring after placement

Initiatives

Named projects inside this programme.

  • Uttar Pradesh · since 2020

    First Job

    A sixteen-week telecom and IT course for school leavers, ending in a placement and a year of mentoring.

    How it works →
How you can help

Three things that would make a difference here.

  • Sponsor a school lab, including its running costs rather than only the hardware.
  • Mentor one student through their first year of work - about an hour a month.
  • Offer interview practice or a site visit at your workplace.

Contributes to

  • SDG 4 Quality education
  • SDG 8 Decent work and economic growth

Related programmes

Support this work

Fund it, staff it, or send us your old laptops.

Tell us which programme interests you and roughly what you have in mind - money, equipment, time or expertise - and we will come back with something specific rather than a brochure.

Abstract globe with connected network lines