The Need of the Hour – UpSkilling India

“If China is known as world’s manufacturing factory, India can be world’s human resource capital,” said by our Hon’ble Prime Minister Sri. Narendra Modi during the launch of National Skill Development Mission shows its Importance to be a vital part in the growth of the country.

Today, over 54% of India’s total population is below 25 years of age and over 60% of population comes under working age group. Over next 25 years, India’s demographic dividend will start moving down and hence it’s a matter of great concern for us to exploit this demographic dividend and overcome the skills gap.

Understanding the need, Govt. of India has started various large Initiatives across the county to skill & enhance employability of our youth, to make a concentrated effort towards it- Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) was formed and it was tasked to converge & coordinate multiple skill development Initiatives through various agencies undertaken by the Govt. of India.

MSDE closely works with Industry Academia to train the workforce which could over years make the Skill Quotient (SQ) & Employability Quotient (EQ) bridge the skill gap and drive sustainable growth through Increased output & technical expertise the assigned task, it brilliantly also Increases the longevity of the resource in the given task.

Understanding the gravity of unskilled resource throughout country, MSDE through National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) is working on building string skill training capability through funding training partners in a phased manner, NSDC is formed in 2013 and is a central nodal agency under MSDE which Implements various training programs Implements various skilling scheme etc.

NSDC has been working to define and align all the training nationally under National Skill Qualification Pack (NSQF) as defined in the National Skill Development Policy which aims at bringing standardised ecosystem well- recognised by the Industry across the world.

The Introduction of Sector Skill Council (SSCs) led by Industry create occupational standards, qualification packs, develops competency framework, enable training and assess the trainee basis well laid out curriculum developed by Industry.

Such initiatives equip candidates with appropriate hands-on skills leading to comprehensive specialization which Increases productivity & competency of an Individual through focused outcome based learning.

MSDE has launched various funding scheme to promote skilling and through Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) which is the flagship skill training scheme, it has mobilized large no. of Indian youths to take up outcome based skill training and become employable and earn livelihood, every successful candidate gets rewarded under this scheme. Under its brand-new avatar, PMKVY 2.0 has also added placement tracking in the timeline to ensure that enough focus has been given on matching the skill set, aptitude towards task assigned.

Last but not least, India is poised to be one of Skilled nation in coming years and it is high time for the Higher Education & Skill Training to exists in same space with seamless Integration as part of training, curriculum.

To enable this, it is very important for Industry and Academia to work together to generate focused hands-on candidates with right blend of learning and employability traits.