Education and Career Resource Centre

Education and Career Resource Centre

Education and Career resource centreThe Education and Career Resource Centre (ECRC) aims to provide a community-run space where children, local young girls and women can have access to knowledge resources on social and political empowerment, health, and environmental issues, and attain education and employment information.

This grass-root facility project was initiated with the goal to establish a library and facility for alternative and supplementary education, career skills training and resource support, facilitation and capacity-building for rural children, local young girls and women.

For sustainable rural development, rural community people should be literate so that they can actively participate in community affairs. India is a developing country where the literacy rate is still low with a sizable percentage among women, marginalized and disadvantaged people.

In this respect, Rural Education and Career Resource Centre (ECRC) aims to empower rural communities using a replicable model for sustainable alternative and informal education with a pinch of social enterprise model paired with non-profit community resource library with for-profit venture. ECRC’s approach mostly focuses on the educational development of rural people through community libraries and skills training services.

ECRC will also launch an innovative micro-funding approach to sustain financially each library through viable income generating programs that support the library for its regular operation and future development. Often the income-generating projects will rise considerably more than library operational expenses. Surplus revenue of the library will go to other community development projects.

This community library and the local alternative educational institution, outside the formal educational system in village areas, which is set up and managed by local people to provide various learning opportunities for community development and improvement of people’s quality of life.

The concept of a community education and career resource centre is that of a community owned centre for lifelong access to educational materials. While on one hand, it will serve as a storehouse of knowledge and information, on the other hand, it will work to create a space for the community men and women to collaborate on a range of development initiatives.

Library and information centres are vital and powerful resources for individuals, organizations and governmental agencies. Community libraries will help local people to develop sound reading habits. They will provide reading materials to different age groups and people from different interest groups. With easy access to the library, technology and information, local people become literate and develop their skills. This turns villages into viable places to live by creating jobs and access to technology, thus creating more opportunities in rural areas.

The ECRC will also serve as the key institution / gateway to look insight into the rural masses and their career aspirations. The following activities are under consideration:

  • Library
  • IT and Computer education classes
  • Communication and language classes:
  • Career information and skills development