Industry stakeholders must bring cognitive skills, a growth mindset, cultural intelligence, and digital literacy to create innovators and entrepreneurs in the country
India's GDP growth has brought optimism against the backdrop of an unbalanced world economy. In this scenario, the focus is once again on skilling initiatives. Skill India Mission and the skill development of the new generation are crucial for building 'Viksit Bharat' by 2047. The New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 emphasizes the need for every youth to be empowered with skills starting from school time, to become important stakeholders in a development revolution.
Today, education is not limited to what is taught in schools, colleges, and universities. The scope of learning has widened due to the evolving market and digital advancements. Acquiring market-driven skills will provide great placement opportunities to the youth and strengthen the foundation of 'Viksit Bharat'.
India has a demographic advantage that needs to be harnessed by building the capacity and infrastructure for skilling, reskilling, and upskilling both existing and new entrants to the workforce. The goal was to increase the proportion of formally skilled workforce from the current 5.4% to at least 15% by 2022-2023. However, the India Skills Report 2022 by Wheebox shows that the overall youth employability in India is only 48.7%. While several government-led skilling initiatives are covering some ground, they are not enough to meet the targeted supply of 109 million workers.
According to the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data, 86% of those aged between 15 and 59 years have not received any vocational training, while the remaining 14% received training through diverse formal and informal channels. The conversion of this pool into human capital requires a dedicated focus on skilling and education. There is ample evidence to prove that upskilling the youth could lead to increased incomes, higher profitability, and greater productivity in the economy.
The NEP has set a clear goal to increase the gross enrolment ratio in higher education, including vocational education, to 50% by 2035. We are determined to achieve this goal by adding 3.5 crore new seats to higher education institutions (HEIs) focusing on a flexible curriculum with creative combinations of subjects, integrating vocational education with mainstream education, and allowing multiple entries and exits with appropriate certification. We will establish Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERUs) at par with IITs and IIMs to provide the best possible education to our students.
We are committed to providing vocational exposure to at least 50% of learners through school and higher education by 2050. We firmly believe that every child should learn at least one vocation and be exposed to several more. With over 15 lakh schools teaching 25.38 crore students, India has one of the largest education networks in the world, and we are determined to make it even better.
However, we acknowledge that achieving this ambitious goal requires sustained, concerted efforts, willpower, and steadfastness in implementing critical reforms. We need to invest in setting up skill centres in every high school across the country and recruit vocational teachers. Adding technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions to our schools is also essential. We are confident that, as India aspires to be the world’s third-largest economy by 2030, investing in our education system is not a big task. We will do what it takes to make India a world leader in skill.
It is vital to impart skill training to our young children so that they can develop an interest in entrepreneurship. This will expose them to emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, drones, the Internet of Things (IoT), Real Time Analytics, and so on. Automation and data exchange are at the core of the fourth Industrial Revolution – Industry 4.0, and therefore, we need to train our young brains accordingly. While a few of them may join the government and services sector, most of them will find their way into the manufacturing and service sector, which is filled with opportunities in our country.
Although some skilling schemes have been restructured, the problem has not been fully addressed. For instance, when the government introduced the Garib Kalyan Rozgar Yojana (GKRY) in 2020 to address skilling and unemployment issues caused by reverse migration, it did not work out as expected. Many reports suggest that GKRY’s market demand-driven skilling initiatives were not successful and did not reach the intended beneficiaries. This indicates a systemic problem that affects the talent ecosystem in India. Therefore, instead of merely making youths 'Labharathi' (Beneficiary), we should equip them with the necessary skills
to make them 'Kamarathi' (Workman).
The informal sector employs around 93 per cent of India's working population, which puts them at a high risk of exclusion. To mitigate this risk, marginalized groups need to be engaged through both online and offline channels. Common Service Centers (CSCs) can help with last-mile reach, while user-friendly and vernacular interfaces can benefit job and skill seekers across different segments. The Talent NODE is not a silver bullet, but with an innovative and inclusive approach, it can help between 50-80 million people find better job opportunities that match their skills and aspirations. An interconnected ecosystem can create a million different opportunities, enabling India's youth to become job-ready and contribute significantly to the country's development.
It is crucial for industry stakeholders, including the government, private, and public sectors, to bring cognitive skills, a growth mindset, cultural intelligence, and digital literacy to create innovators and entrepreneurs in the country. This will help the youth to be job-ready and contribute significantly to India's development as a developed nation.
(The writer is a Co-Founder and MD of Orane International, a Training Partner with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), and a Network Member of India International Skill Centres, views are personal)
