Children grow up hearing the question: “What will you be when you grow up?”
Their answers are often imaginative, honest, and unfiltered. While most adults delight in hearing aspirations like pilot, cricketer, scientist, or engineer, they often dismiss with hesitation when a child says they want to be a gardener, firefighter, chef, farmer, mechanic, or driver. These responses are quietly filtered through societal expectations; long before children even understand the world of work.
This early conditioning reflects a deep-seated cultural hierarchy of occupations. As we grow, our own professional journeys rarely match what we once imagined, yet we continue to define “good careers’’ narrowly for the next generation. With careers becoming unpredictable and constantly evolving, it is essential that we allow children to explore the full spectrum of work with dignity, curiosity, and respect.
How early experiences shape children’s perception of work
In the formative years, children learn more from observation than instruction. When they enthusiastically try to fix something, clean a space, or help with chores, adults often stop them; not because the task is inappropriate, but because it is considered “someone else’s work.” Statements like “Don’t do this, the maid will do it,” or “This is not for boys,” subtly reinforce social hierarchies of labour.
Yet, nothing is lost; and much is gained, when children engage in everyday tasks. These moments help them develop empathy for workers, understand the effort behind simple conveniences, and learn that all work has dignity. It is an invaluable foundation for appreciating skills later in life.
Why dignity of labour matters today
As India pushes forward with NEP 2020, the NCF-SE 2022, and the expansion of vocational education through Samagra Shiksha, dignity of labour becomes a crucial value to instill early. For children to embrace skill development in school, they must first understand the value of skills at home and in society.
This perspective also complements broader efforts to strengthen skill education in schools, as outlined in our earlier article on Strengthening Skill Education in Indian Schools: An Overview.
Influencers of skill perception: What shapes children’s mindsets?
1. Media and advertising
Children internalize what they see. Ads that portray certain jobs as “less valued” reinforce the bias. We need more media narratives that normalise and celebrate everyday professions; repair technicians, hospitality workers, artisans, farmers, and more. Campaigns that earlier spotlighted gender equality can inspire similar storytelling around skills and dignity of labour.
2. Showing “Behind-the-Scenes” of work
A simple visit to a workshop, a service centre, a bakery kitchen, or a farm can transform how children perceive work. Watching professionals in action builds respect for skill, effort, and craft. Schools already doing such visits under Bagless Days demonstrate how exposure deepens understanding.
3. Encouraging conversations with workers
Everyday interactions, with waiters, drivers, technicians, security staff; can open children’s eyes to diverse work environments and real-life stories. These conversations humanize professions and foster gratitude.
4. Supporting new role models
Children today follow content creators, skill-based performers, young entrepreneurs, gamers, designers, and makers. When a child expresses such unconventional aspirations, adults must respond with curiosity rather than concern. New-age professions often emerge from passion + skill; not from convention.
As children grow, schools play an important role in reinforcing the dignity of work by offering meaningful exposure to skills.
Reimagining skill exposure in schools
Modern classrooms increasingly recognise the need for spaces where children can touch, build, take apart, and reassemble things. Makerspaces provide exactly this opportunity; offering tools, robotics kits, electronics, and craft materials for open-ended exploration. These spaces cultivate confidence, creativity, and respect for manual work.
Skill-enhanced environments such as SkillTech Studio further strengthen this exposure by offering hands-on industrial learning through simulators, models, and digital tools. Together, makerspaces and skill studios bridge the gap between curiosity at home and structured skill development in school.
Creating a culture of recognition and celebration
Children thrive when their efforts are noticed. Whether it is fixing something, cooking a meal, assembling a model, gardening, painting, repairing, or crafting; every skill-oriented activity deserves encouragement.
Schools, neighbourhoods, and families can create simple ways to celebrate skills:
- Monthly “maker of the month”
- Community problem-solving challenges
- Peer exhibitions and open studios
Small recognitions plant the seed that skills matter.
Doing things manually: Why it still matters
Despite social progress, manual work continues to carry stigma in many homes. Children gradually internalise this bias and move away from practical learning. Yet, hands-on experiences build important qualities:
- Problem-solving
- Creativity
- Motor skills
- Patience
- Curiosity
- Confidence
Skill development does not begin in a classroom, it begins with doing.
A foundation for future skilling and vocational education
Children rarely get the chance to truly experience vocational or technical occupations; from carpentry to electronics to farming to crafting. Without exposure, it is difficult to make informed choices later in life.
The cultural lens through which we see work strongly affects how we approach vocational education in secondary and senior secondary years. Respect for skills must begin early if we want NEP 2020’s vision to succeed at scale.
Dignity of work begins at home
As we build a stronger skill-based education system across Indian schools, we must remember that the cultural foundation begins in childhood. When we allow children to observe, participate, experiment, and appreciate everyday work, we help them understand that all professions hold value.
Skill development is not just a curriculum change; it is a mindset shift.
And this shift begins with how we talk about work at home, how we model respect in front of our children, and how schools create opportunities to experience the world of work.
Nurturing dignity of labour in young minds today will shape the skilled, confident, compassionate workforce of tomorrow.
