Be it a small company, or an MNC all are suffering economic crisis due to lockdown. Coronavirus or COVID-19 has not only affected the economy but has also claimed many lives worldwide. The market has started to open slowly with precautionary measures like minimum workforce, use of sanitization, low contact, etc. but there have been few sectors who are still facing complete lockdown.
The railways, flights, educational institutes, shopping malls etc. are still under a lockdown or operating with very limited resources. We can understand that the full functioning of an educational institute is not recommended as the children get affected most and checking the spread among kids is not at all possible. But the professional training institutes where trainees come for certification can be once again looked upon for reopening with a standard operating procedure in place.
In India, the coaching institute has been on a standstill from the last week of March. As the COVID 19 situation is not getting controlled, it has become even worse for the institute owners to be in the business for long. The owners have to pay the rent, electric bills, trainers’ salary and other expenses which is now going beyond their capacity to pay.
The institute has been trying all its means to run the classes online. In India, the traditional method of teaching is more prevalent due to which online means are not enough to generate operating costs for the institute. Moreover, education is the most important sector for building the future of the country. If the training institutes remain closed for long then trained professionals will be scarce for the industries to hire. This will affect the proper functioning of companies and industries. The institutes providing industrial training have been an important source for the talent pool in the market for the startups, small scale industries, MNCs, etc.
InventaTeq, which is a premier institute for industrial training has been producing a talent pool for years which helps companies to hire from a better workforce has been closed since lockdown. Due to the lockdown, the institute is suffering to generate the operational cost and this is the story for all other institutes as well. As the market has started to open up, the trainees are waiting for the institutes to open up. Opening of the institute will help the fresh graduates and working professionals to add on the skills required for sustaining in the adverse situation. In the present scenario, where companies are looking forward to retaining only those who are highly skilled, the training institutes play a very important role in building those talents.
With the opening of other sectors in the market, the government should consider soft training or computer training partners differently as they function similar to a software company. These institutes must be permitted to start operations with at least 50% of the bench strength for training. The other standard procedures can be also placed so that education or training can be started without causing any spread of the virus from the centre. This would not only produce a skilled workforce but also help the institutes to survive the bad phase economically.
Finally, we request the government to come up with a plan which can help the private training institutes to survive in the market and contribute to this pandemic in a way or the other.