By Harpreet S. Grover
India has the largest population of youth compared to any other country in the world - 65 per cent of our population is below 35 years of age and we have a decision to make today. Either majority of the youth lead an aimless life as is the case today or catapult the country into an economic superpower in the years to come. The current government's Skill India mission is a catalyst that can give the youth a chance to live with self assurance and dignity.
This is possible if the government builds on the positives and re-looks at the weaker side of mission which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the World Youth Day on July, 15.
Let's put the positives in perspective first. The government has set a credible target of imparting skill training to 400 million by 2022 through an institutional framework. It can utilize the training capabilities of over 12000 industrial training institutes, 3200 polytechnics and various schools and colleges promoted by PSUs and private sector across the country.
This would meet the demand for skilled manpower in key identified sectors by 2022 and still leave enough skilled Indians to work in other parts of the world. Also, having a common structure in the form of National Skills Qualification Framework means that all such training will be standardized and will be in sync with international standards.
Second positive is the realization that skilling alone would not help. Placement is equally important, both for fresh trainees as well as existing workers who have undergone training under the mission. This is a refreshing change as skill-development schemes so far focused on inputs rather than output of the process, as a result of which trainees were unable to find jobs in most cases. While the skilling targets in the first few years are in single millions, subsequent year targets can only be met if the youth sees result from skilling, which is a better job.
Third, there seems to be the recognition that jobs for all today do not exist. Hence the stress on promotion of entrepreneurship to absorb the skilled workforce so developed. It is worth mentioning here that during 2005-2012, only 2.5 million additional jobs were created in comparison to 26 million people reaching the working age every year. That is hardly 10 per cent, which means we need some of the skilled people to turn into entrepreneurs to create jobs for others. The government would set up the National Commission on Entrepreneurship for creating entrepreneurs who will in turn create jobs. The government will also ease the processes of starting a new business in addition to plugging the gaps in information for a sound business environment.
All this is good news for the industry as only 4.69 per cent of India's workforce today has received formal skill training, way too low in comparison with 52 per cent in the USA, 68 per cent in the UK, 75 per cent in Germany, 80 per cent in Japan and 96 per cent in South Korea. The lack of skill training has led to creation of an unskilled workforce in many companies, becoming an obstacle in the economic growth of these companies in particular and the country in general.
The key to success of Skill India Mission will lie in solving three crucial points. First is management of aspirations of millions of youth. In our country mostly everyone wants to do a desk job while the available opportunities are more outdoors. Second is managing the parents' aspiration of getting formal education for their children. This has to be replaced by parents looking to get their children skilled rather than doing a 3-4 year course with minimal learning.
The final challenge is in gaining acceptance from corporate. While a lot of corporate will say yes to the mission, it will be important to see how many fulfill their promise and hire people with skill certification. If that happens, the mission would have hit a home run. Nonetheless, it is a fresh start in enhancing the skills of young India.
(Harpreet S. Grover is Co-Founder & CEO, CoCubes Technologies)
India has the largest population of youth compared to any other country in the world - 65 per cent of our population is below 35 years of age and we have a decision to make today. Either majority of the youth lead an aimless life as is the case today or catapult the country into an economic superpower in the years to come. The current government's Skill India mission is a catalyst that can give the youth a chance to live with self assurance and dignity.
This is possible if the government builds on the positives and re-looks at the weaker side of mission which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the World Youth Day on July, 15.
Let's put the positives in perspective first. The government has set a credible target of imparting skill training to 400 million by 2022 through an institutional framework. It can utilize the training capabilities of over 12000 industrial training institutes, 3200 polytechnics and various schools and colleges promoted by PSUs and private sector across the country.
This would meet the demand for skilled manpower in key identified sectors by 2022 and still leave enough skilled Indians to work in other parts of the world. Also, having a common structure in the form of National Skills Qualification Framework means that all such training will be standardized and will be in sync with international standards.
Second positive is the realization that skilling alone would not help. Placement is equally important, both for fresh trainees as well as existing workers who have undergone training under the mission. This is a refreshing change as skill-development schemes so far focused on inputs rather than output of the process, as a result of which trainees were unable to find jobs in most cases. While the skilling targets in the first few years are in single millions, subsequent year targets can only be met if the youth sees result from skilling, which is a better job.
Third, there seems to be the recognition that jobs for all today do not exist. Hence the stress on promotion of entrepreneurship to absorb the skilled workforce so developed. It is worth mentioning here that during 2005-2012, only 2.5 million additional jobs were created in comparison to 26 million people reaching the working age every year. That is hardly 10 per cent, which means we need some of the skilled people to turn into entrepreneurs to create jobs for others. The government would set up the National Commission on Entrepreneurship for creating entrepreneurs who will in turn create jobs. The government will also ease the processes of starting a new business in addition to plugging the gaps in information for a sound business environment.
All this is good news for the industry as only 4.69 per cent of India's workforce today has received formal skill training, way too low in comparison with 52 per cent in the USA, 68 per cent in the UK, 75 per cent in Germany, 80 per cent in Japan and 96 per cent in South Korea. The lack of skill training has led to creation of an unskilled workforce in many companies, becoming an obstacle in the economic growth of these companies in particular and the country in general.
The key to success of Skill India Mission will lie in solving three crucial points. First is management of aspirations of millions of youth. In our country mostly everyone wants to do a desk job while the available opportunities are more outdoors. Second is managing the parents' aspiration of getting formal education for their children. This has to be replaced by parents looking to get their children skilled rather than doing a 3-4 year course with minimal learning.
The final challenge is in gaining acceptance from corporate. While a lot of corporate will say yes to the mission, it will be important to see how many fulfill their promise and hire people with skill certification. If that happens, the mission would have hit a home run. Nonetheless, it is a fresh start in enhancing the skills of young India.
(Harpreet S. Grover is Co-Founder & CEO, CoCubes Technologies)
