Lifelong lessons

 

Five American states — Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, Alaska and Utah — have now dropped the requirement of a four-year college degree for most government jobs

The college degree is losing its shine right in the heart of the country that claims some of the best colleges in the world. Five American states — Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, Alaska and Utah — have now dropped the requirement of a four-year college degree for most government jobs. The immediate trigger is no doubt the tight labour market. But as college tuition continues to rise and their enrolments continue to decline, opinion polls repeatedly reveal falling public faith and support for traditional higher education.

What Peter Drucker called the knowledge economy seems not to be working quite as well as when the term was doing popular rounds in the second half of the 20th century. Even so, the erosion of faith in traditional colleges in the United States of America remains a localised phenomenon. It does not necessarily indicate a loss of faith in higher education per se, just in its traditional method and venue of delivery. The knowledge worker most likely to continue being relevant is still someone immersed in knowledge, just capable of coursing through its rapidly changing waters through an entire lifetime rather than bearing an early, immutable stamp. Lifelong learning, that great liberal humanist expression, is now a corporate catchphrase owned by organisers of distance, continuing, and (the particularly lucrative) executive education. And with pandemic-accelerated logistical support behind, and the ongoing and impending wave of Artificial Intelligence right ahead, the giant called educational technology has expanded its reach to engulf much of that life of long learning. Certainly enough for the newsmagazine, Inside Higher Ed, to describe a recent crucial gathering of tech and finance business leaders at MIT as the “oncoming AI Ed-Tech tsunami”.

The onset of the tsunami is being particularly felt in post-industrial island states where the key resource is people. At 275 square miles and home to 5.4 million people, Singapore knows well what its key strength is — human capital. “The only thing Singapore has,” Gan Chee Lip, associate provost for undergraduate education at Nanyang Technological University, recently told the Times Higher Education, “without natural resources, is people.” It is natural that Singapore has taken lifelong learning more seriously than most other countries because without a future-ready workforce it will quickly lose its edge in the global economy. The SkillsFuture programme was introduced by the Singapore government in 2014, with the motto, “Develop Our People”. With the goal of providing Singaporeans with “opportunities to develop their fullest potential throughout life,” it gives every citizen aged 25 or older S$500 of credit that they can spend on further education or training. The programme has gained traction in the corporate world as it does not necessarily require employees to commit to a full-length academic programme but space out the learning as and when necessary. Universities have followed, with the National University of Singapore making the striking announcement in 2018 that all its alums will stay enrolled in the university for 20 years from admission, making its 300,000+ alums automatically eligible for its 700-odd continuing education courses, to which they can apply their government subsidies.

Innovative US institutions have been experimenting with the ‘fragmented’ college model for some time now. The Design School at Stanford initiated a six-year undergraduate degree a few years ago, which could be taken in instalments of two years each in different decades of one’s life. It is not quite clear what the success of that initiative has been, but what is clear is that the traditional model of college education is under significant pressure in the US, not just from unsympathetic politicians and an increasingly disinterested public but also from the rapid decline in numbers of college-age students, which is projected to reach a major crisis in 2025. Which, incidentally, means that these colleges will be more eager than ever to welcome fee-paying international students, particularly from Asia, from where applications continue to rise.

That the bachelor’s degree is being stretched and pushed in different directions is clear from its new incarnation in India’s National Education Policy, 2020. As we know by now, it offers four versions of undergraduate certification, attainable at the end of each of the first, second, third, and fourth years. This is a significant departure from the examination-driven, three-year structure that was the colonial inheritance of Indian universities from the University of London model. While the relevance of undergraduate research is acknowledged in the expanded, four-year degree, a productive fragmentation of this education seems to be the goal behind the early exit policies, with credits bankable and transferrable through the Academic Bank of Credit. The NEP seems torn between — sometimes productively and sometimes not so productively — the liberal, the professional, and the vocational — and the pluralisation of the undergraduate degree reflects this, to a similarly mixed effect.

But it is impossible to talk about the fragmentation, diminution or, for that matter, the obsolescence or lifelong expansion of the college degree without considering what this means for social mobility, particularly for those who need it the most. This was, indeed, the caveat behind Drucker’s knowledge society — the loss of manufacturing jobs to venues overseas, he had argued, would render the American unskilled worker jobless — as it did across the Rust Belt across the Midwest. The NEP committee, now working on the National Curriculum Framework, recently asked me to provide a brief definition of ‘knowledge’ that could be used to frame the policy discussion, and while trying to think of something that would be as expansive as it would be pluralistic — a sore need of the hour — I realised anew the porousness and amorphousness of the term, whether at the secondary or the post-secondary stage. And it is a problem of practice, not just philosophy. Knowledge and skill are just elements of the educational experience, and the college degree offers the making of a cohort, a community, and socio-professional networks that may just return to the exclusive possession of the born-elite if eroded beyond recognition. The biggest risk of the early-exit undergraduate degree is the early exit of the poorest college student.

Saikat Majumdar is Professor of English and Creative Writing at Ashoka University

Source: The Telegraph, 24/05/23

Rebooting the system for a skills upgrade

There needs to be a road map to rescue private Industrial Training Institutes from their weak state

Small shops, basements, tin sheds and godowns. These are not random workplaces but places where private Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) are running in the country. Disturbing facts such as these come from the report of the Standing Committee on Labour (2017-18) headed by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Kirit Somaiya, on the “Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and Skill Development Initiative Scheme” of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE). It was submitted to Parliament few months ago.

Explaining the scale-up

The ITIs were initiated in the 1950s. In a span of 60 years, until 2007, around 1,896 public and 2,000 private ITIs were set up. However, in a 10-year period from 2007, more than 9,000 additional private ITIs were accredited.

What explains this huge private sector scale-up? The committee says that it is not efficiency but a disregard for norms and standards. However, the ITIs are not alone. The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) today has more than 6,000 private training centres. Since it has short-term courses and its centres open and close frequently, it is all the more prone to a dilution of standards. Private training partners have mushroomed at the rate of five a day (mostly with government support) and it is clear that the government has been unable to regulate private institutions for quality. Private sector engagement in skill development has been taken up by standalone private training partners and not employers. The latter could have made the system demand-driven. Meanwhile, the lack of a regulator for skill development, with teeth, has led to poor quality affiliation, assessment and certification.

The Somaiya committee report is scathing in its tone and specific in details. It outlines instances of responsibility outsourcing, no oversight, connivance and an ownership tussle between the Central and State governments.

Private-ITI accreditation troubles started when the Quality Council of India (QCI), a private body, was hired due to “high workload of affiliation and shortage of [government] staff”. The QCI did not follow accreditation norms created by the National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) and it appears that neither scale nor standard was achieved, but only speed. ‘Speed’ now risks the future of 13.8 lakh students (on an average, 206 students per ITI) studying in these substandard ITIs, which can be closed any time.

The ITIs have a unique functioning set-up. While they were formed under the government’s Craftsman Training Scheme scheme, their day-to-day administration, finances and admissions are with State governments. The NCVT performs an advisory role. The ITIs often run into issues with no one to take ownership. A case in point is the examination process — the question paper is prepared by the NCVT, but administered and evaluated by instructors of the State Councils for VT. The NCVT is just a stamp with no role in actually assessing quality. How can quality outcomes be expected without quality assessments?

The parliamentary committee has shed light on the ITIs. If the same exercise were extended to other skill development schemes, the picture would be grimmer. There are 183 cases pending in High Courts on non-compliance of norms by the ITIs. However, the short-term training programmes of the Ministry evade any scrutiny and action. For example, the Standard Training Assessment and Reward scheme spent ₹850 crore in 2013-14 with no norms for quality. There were no Aadhaar checks, attendance requirements and batch size limitations. Private training operators have made a profit with no court cases.

The report also reinforces disturbing findings of a national survey by the research institute (NILERD) of the Planning Commission in 2011 about private ITIs: they offered training in less than five trades (in government ITIs it is less than 10); had fewer classrooms and workshops for practice; and their teachers were very poorly paid.

A starting point

So what can we do systemically? A good point to start would be the Sharda Prasad Committee recommendations.

We need better oversight, with a national board for all skill development programmes. The core work (accreditation, assessment, certification and course standards) cannot be outsourced. Like every other education board (such as the CBSE), a board is required in vocational training that is accountable. Since we have the NCVT as a legacy, it should be used as a kernel to constitute the board. We should also have a mandatory rating system for the ITIs that is published periodically. A ranking of the ITIs on several parameters such as the one done by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council in tertiary education can be replicated.

There should be one system, with one law and one national vocational education and training system. The silos in which vocational training happens in India is unfortunate. We need to create a unified national vocational system where the ITIs, NSDC private vocational trainers and vocational education in schools, and the other Central ministries conducting training gel seamlessly and can learn from, and work with each other. A unified legal framework can facilitate such a unification. The absence of a law has only weakened regulation and monitoring. What we need is a national vocational act that replaces all scattered regulations — recommended in the 12th Five Year Plan.

Micro-institutional reforms

The ITIs have many internal issues such as staffing and salaries that need attention, as the NILERD nationwide survey in 2011 had found. There is also a critical need to reskill ITI teachers and maintain the student-teacher ratio. Since technology obsolescence is a continuous challenge, financial support envisaged through the NSDC should be extended to the ITIs.

The primary reason for hiring the QCI and the mess that followed was this: “huge workload of affiliation and shortage of staff”. This is true even today. It is unlikely that without fixing this, the QCI mistake will not be repeated. There has been a tremendous push by the government for private sector talent in government; perhaps it is worth considering talent from the open market to fill up higher posts in skill development.

Institutional reforms such as moving the office of the Directorate General of Employment (the arm that has all data on employment) from the Ministry of Labour to the MSDE would help. It would also complement the Directorate General of Training already under MSDE.

Employers and financing

This is the last but perennial challenge. Given the scale of our demographic challenge, a belief that financing from corporate social responsibility, multilateral organisations such as the World Bank, and the government will meet the financial needs for skill development is wishful thinking.

The only way to mobilise adequate resources the right way is to do skills training, and have equipment and tools that keep pace with changing needs and ensure that employers have skin in the game. This is possible through a reimbursable industry contribution (RIC) — a 1-2% payroll tax that will be reimbursed when employers train using public/private infrastructure and provide data. RIC, which is implemented in 62 other countries, was recommended in the 12th Plan and is an idea whose time has come. An estimate by the first author of this article indicated that such a tax would generate ₹17, 000 crore per annum for skilling in India — which is several multiples of State/Union governments’ current annual budget for skilling.

Finally, while there is so much talk of skills for the future and the impact of artificial intelligence and automation, data show that 13.8 lakh students in the ITIs are suffering due to poor institutional accreditation. Placement in NSDC training has been less than 15%. Maybe if we take care of the present, we will be better prepared for the future.

Santosh Mehrotra is Professor of Economics, Centre for Labour, Jawaharlal Nehru University, a member of the Prasad Expert Committee on Sector Skill Councils, and a lead author of the National Skills Qualification Framework. Ashutosh Pratap works on skills and jobs issues and has worked with the Expert Committee

Source: The Hindu, 7/08/2018

Education panel recommends skill training for children from class 3

A Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) sub-committee on skill and technical education has recommended introducing vocational courses from class 3 to ensure that school students undergo skill training from an early age.

The committee also mooted developing laboratories at primary schools to motivate students in this regard. The report was discussed at a meeting of CABE – the highest advisory body on education for the central and state governments – last month.

Besides this, the body recommended collating a list of skills vis-à-vis the regions they are required in, and integrating them with the education system. “During deliberations, the sub-committee made a number of suggestions, including the introduction of vocational education from the third standard. Also, it was suggested that state-of-the-art labs be developed even at the primary school level to motivate them,” said a source.

Many members also highlighted the need to focus on vocational education pertaining to skill sectors relevant to the states.

Other recommendations made by the sub-committee included training teachers, keeping the needs of the industry in mind. It also suggested ways to ensure that training in the agriculture sector reaches the backward sections of society.

Sources further said the National Institute of Open Schooling is planning to introduce vocational education in class 12 with three vocational subjects, besides one language and one foundation subject.

The committee stressed on the importance of infusing the existing skill education and technical education courses in both school and higher-education levels at academic institutes. It also recommended giving parents a say in picking entrepreneurship training courses for students.

“Teachers should play the role of a mentor, and help students pick the learning or entrepreneurship training of their choice in conjunction with their parents at parent-teacher meets,” said a senior official.

Source: Hindustan Times, 15-11-2016

Industry must lead the way in skilling India

Govt initiatives such as Skill India can only be a part of the solution

Up to a third of the skills considered important today could change as soon as 2020

The chasm between India’s demographic bulge and the employment opportunities required to absorb it has been a staple in any debate about economic growth, and rightly so. The destabilizing political and social effects of a large unemployed population and the productivity loss from under- or poorly manned industries are anathema to any developing nation. Increasing levels of technology integration in production and business processes complicate the picture further. The National Democratic Alliance government has focused on a core aspect of the employment issue with the Skill India drive. But it will need to navigate an increasingly complicated landscape.

Recent data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development puts the skills shortage in India—measured as a percentage of firms with ten or more employees that have difficulty finding qualified employees—at 61%, among the highest ratios. This is not surprising. The Labour Bureau Report 2014 had pegged the skilled workforce in India at a dismal 2%. To its credit, the United Progressive Alliance administration had attempted a structured approach to the problem with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC)—a public-private partnership aimed at funding forprofit vocational training initiatives, now part of the Narendra Modi government’s skilling initiative.

But the NSDC’s performance to date has left much to be desired. It has a laundry list of problems: the need to coordinate with multiple ministries all running their own programmes creating bureaucratic sclerosis, funding tussles, issues of perception with job-seekers looking down on vocational training and job-creators unwilling to fork out a premium for skilled workers and poor hit rate as far as post-skilling employment goes. Unsurprisingly, the NSDC managed to train just 3.3 million people in 2014 and aimed for 6 million last year, when the 2022 target is 150 million.

The Modi government has built on its predecessor’s efforts with the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship’s flagship scheme, implemented by the NSDC. The momentum it is giving to the issue is commendable. But it should keep this in mind: skilling and upskilling efforts must be industry-led. The PMKVY’s various provisions and the triple-layer decision-making structure at the coordinating National Skill Development Mission pose the risk of a top-down approach that cannot anticipate or respond to shifts in demand and global conditions as effectively as the market can.

This is especially true in the context of employability-enhancing skills at a time when technology is rapidly changing their nature. A World Economic Forum report posits that up to a third of the skills considered important today will have changed as soon as 2020. Greater automation and machine intelligence integration is likely to hit the manufacturing sector—the great hope for boosting employment—hard over the next decade or two.

This is not to suggest that the government step back entirely. But it would do well to think outside the box. For instance, voucher programmes that give individuals the freedom to join training programmes of their choice—with the latter receiving government funding by redeeming the vouchers—improve outcomes via market mechanisms and have been found to work in countries as diverse as Austria and Kenya. The government must also create an economic environment that incentivizes industry players to step up. Labour reforms are key here. Paying a premium for workers from as yet fledgling skilling programmes is a risk when a deep pool of cheaper, unskilled labour is available. If employers are to take the risk—their unwillingness to do is currently a key problem—they must have the freedom to make appropriate adjustments in order to minimize and, if necessary, walk back the risk.

It’s also worth remembering that skilling programmes are the end point of employability creation, not the beginning. The education system is the primary incubator—and in India, it is sadly lacking. By some estimates, barely 40% of Indian graduates are employable. This is predictable when education models have few options or weightage given to skills and knowledge relevant in today’s market; nor is there sufficient interaction and integration between educational institutions and industry to facilitate internships, mentoring initiatives and feedback loops.

Skilling India is a mammoth task. The coming years will see substantial productivity increases, but also significant worker dislocation. Central government initiatives make for good messaging—but they are only one part of the solution.

Source: Mint epaper, 24-08-2016

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana gets Cabinet approval to train 60 lakh youth

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) scheme has come by the central or union government. Under this scheme, various types of courses are present for all candidates and the institution owners also. This scheme is released by the P.M Narendra Modi. PKMVY 2016 Scheme Training is released for the poor candidates. The main motive to start the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 2016 provides the education for all youth, medium category candidates.

The Scheme, completely aligned to the Common Norms as notified earlier, would move to a grant based model where the training and assessment cost would be directly reimbursed to training providers and assessment bodies in accordance with the Common Norms.

Financial support to trainees will be given in the form of travel allowance, boarding and lodging costs. Post placement support would be given directly to the beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). Disbursement of training cost to training partners will be linked to Aadhaar and biometrics for better transparency and targeting. Skill training would be done based on industry led standards aligned to the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF).

In view of the recommendations of the sub group of Chief Ministers on Skill Development regarding the need to address the unique skill requirements of different States, State Governments would be involved through a project based approach under the PMKVY 2016-20 with 25% of the total training targets, both financial and physical, being allocated under this stream of the Scheme. The financial amount/budget for achieving 25% of the total training targets of next phase of PMKVY would be directly allocated to the States.

Mobilisation, monitoring and post training placement of trainees will be done through Rozgar Melas (placement camps) and Kaushal Shivirs (mobilization camps). There will be special focus on placement of trainees with incentives/disincentives linked to placement as envisaged in the Common Norms. A project based approach for Non formal training for traditional jobs is also proposed. PMKVY will, in addition to catering to domestic skill needs, also focus on skill training aligned to international standards for overseas employment in Gulf countries, Europe and other overseas destinations. There will be scholarship for student undergoing training in high end job roles under the Scheme.

Source: Digital Learning

BOOST TO SKILL INDIA MISSION - Legislation on Right to Skill Likely

New Delhi Our Bureau





Panel suggests using funds from the education cess and half of corporate profits for CSR to provide vocational training

The government could frame a new law to grant the youth the right to skill as well as impose a cess to fund its robust Skill India Mission if the recommendations of a high-level subgroup are accepted.In a comprehensive report submitted recently, the sub-group of chief ministers chief ministers chaired by Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, also recommended using funds from the education cess and half of corporate profits set aside for corporate social responsibility to create a non-lapsable pool of funds that could be used to provide vocational training to millions of youth over the next seven years.
“The Centre and all the states may explore the need for enacting legislation on Right of Youth to Skill Development in line with the law in the state of Chhattisgarh,“ the sub-group of chief ministers said in a report.
According to the report, such a right-based legislation backed by robust implementation will generate greater demand, remove the low esteem attached to vocational education and encourage more young persons to seek skill training. “This should be backed by adequate infrastructure and resources especially for less resource rich states,“ the report said. Highlighting the need for adequate funds as a key to the success of the Skill India Mission, the sub-group has recommended some innovative mechanisms for mobilising resources.
“Funds should not be a constraint for Skill India Mission. Today most finances are from the government budgetary resources. There is need to explore innovative mechanisms for mobilising more resources for achieving the vision of the National Skill Mission,“ the report said.
“The funds collected out of education cess could also be provided for vocationalisation of school education given that India has achieved near universalisation of the Primary Education,“ it said.
The sub-group of chief ministers further recommended that half of the 2% of the average net profit of companies earning a net . 5 crore or more may be profit of ` earmarked for skill development activities.
Besides, it proposed to use the additional funds available with Employees' State Insurance Corporation, Employees' Provident Fund Organisation and building and other construction workers which add up to more than ` . 80,000 crore for skill development for workers and fresh trainees.
The sub-group suggested that even foreign investors investing money in the country should earmark 1% of their investment for skill development in their sector and also adopt ITIs in the vicinity.
“Funds under major flagship programmes can be earmarked for skill development as success of these programmes such as Digital India, Housing for All, Smart Cities and Swachh Bharat depends on the availability of skilled manpower,“ the report said.
Acknowledging that the accessibility of skill training is a huge challenge in the country, the subgroup recommended using the expertise of retired government officers and defence personnel for imparting skills besides using the available machines, technical specialists and premises of public sector units and major private sector units.
The government has set a target to skill 119 million people by 2022 in 24 sectors and reskill the existing 460 million as projected by the National Skill Development Corporation based on its skill gap studies across states.

Source: Economic Times, 27-10-2015

Symbiosis to set up skill development university in Pune - 

As lot of emphasis is given to skill-based education and skill development nowadays, the Symbiosis Open Education Society is going to set up a skill development university in Pune for that purpose.

While informing about the developments, Dr Swati Mujumdar, Principal Director, Symbiosis Open Education Society (SOES), said, “As skill development is the need of the hour, the skill development university will be in line with the Prime Minister’s vision of Make In India, which will cater to the growing need of skilled resources in the industry.”

The target would be on programmes related to high growth sectors such as automobile and manufacturing and a centre of excellence will be established in collaboration with local industry to provide skill-based training to the youth.

For the project, Symbiosis has acquired 15 acres of land under the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation’s jurisdiction at Kiwale. The cost of the project is about Rs 200 crore and the plan to launch the first programme is from 2016.

Source: Elets News Network (ENN) Posted on October 15, 2015 

The challenge of skills and jobs

The scale of the skilling challenge that India faces, and the urgency involved, have been palpable for some time, but new official data put into cold numbers the extent of the problem. Fewer than one in 10 adult Indians has had any form ofvocational training, and even among those who have, the type of training is not the sort of formal skilling that employers seek – the majority had either acquired a hereditary skill or learned on the job. Just 2.2 per cent in all had received formal vocational training. In comparison, 75 per cent of the workforce in Germany and 80 per cent in Japan has received formal skills training. Even among the BRICS countries, India lags behind – nearly half the Chinese workforce, for example, is skilled. Very few Indians get a technical education in medicine, engineering or agriculture; fewer than one in ten Indians is a graduate, and among those who are graduates, the majority get undergraduate degrees in arts, science or commerce. The problem is more acute in rural areas and for women. Without access to affordable and appropriate skills training, young people, particularly those leaving rural areas and small towns for big cities, will be stuck in low-wage, insecure jobs that will leave them in want or poverty.

The Narendra Modi government has made skills and jobs one of its focus areas from the beginning of its term. In July, the Prime Minister launched an ambitious mission to impart skills training to 40 crore people by 2022, and the new government has a dedicated Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. The problem is that the previous government talked the same talk on skills but was able to achieve precious little; the proportion of young adults who had received vocational training was virtually unchanged between 2004-05 and 2011-12. There isn’t any clear evidence yet that the new government is charting out a radically new path on skills. There remain multiple decision-making authorities on skills and little clarity about who exactly will do the work. Promises of corporate and foreign partnerships on skilling are pouring in, but how these mass skilling programmes will take off is unclear. Employers complain that job-seekers do not have the skills they look for; there is little evidence yet that curricula with these objectives in mind have been designed, or that new and affordable training institutes have been set up on a mass scale. Job creation has not kept pace with India’s demographic momentum, and that will in the coming days pose a problem for a skilled workforce. But let’s not put the cart before the horse – a poorly trained young workforce can neither bring workers out of poverty nor help a country grow quickly.

Keywords: vocational training, Jobs, BRICS countries, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Poverty, 

Source: The Hindu, 28-09-2015

Bolstering skills through PPP model

Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) in partnership with the World Bank will organise a Google+ Hangout to enable greater engagement of the Indian corporate sector in India’s skill development initiatives.

The Google+ Hangout will have different stakeholders including government, World Bank and CEOs of large Indian Corporations deliberate ways in which Corporate Social Responsibility Funds of Indian companies can be channeled towards skill development initiatives of the government.

This online event will be held on 2nd September, 2015 from 4.30 pm to 6.00 pm. Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajiv Pratap Rudy will deliver the keynote address and interact with the CEOs of Indian companies. Chairpersons of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) such as State Bank of India, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC), and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) will also participate.

Announcing the initiative Rudy said, “India is expected to have half of its population under 28 years by 2030. While the `ageing economy’ phenomenon will globally create a shortage of skilled manpower of 57 million by 2020, India will have a surplus of 46 million working people. Helping this young population with the right skills will provide India a huge demographic dividend.”

The Hangout will also launch IT-based Skills to Jobs Aggregator Platform. The Skills to Jobs platform – created as part of World Bank technical assistance to MSDE – is a technology enabled multi-stakeholder platform that will effectively channel funds (both government and corporate) towards skills projects and also help Indian companies and skilled trainees to connect, which could lead to better job prospects for the trainees. The entire platform will be driven through a combination of Marketplace and cloud, mobile and big data technologies. All data points will be tagged to Google Maps, thereby, providing exact locations ensuring highest levels of data authenticity. Dashboards will be created to provide a one-stop solution for understanding and evaluating the progress, effectiveness and impact of skills projects across the country.

World Bank Country Director in India Onno Ruhl has said, “The Google+ Hangout will help us brainstorm on how public and private capital can be effectively channeled towards skill development in order to prepare a better skilled workforce for the job market.”

Govt Set to Revamp Rural Skill Development Schemes

Ruchika Chitravanshi

New Delhi:





The Narendra Modi led NDA is revamping the skills programmes for rural India, plan ning to provide interest subsidy to make credit cheaper and remove a cap on spending under the Nation al Rural Livelihoods Mission.“We are going to move a cabinet proposal,“ said a rural develop ment ministry official. The cap currently pegged at 25% of total ex penditure, curbs spending on skills initiatives needed in rural India which has a large number of land less labourers. The move comes on the heels of the launch of Skills In dia, a national skills initiative.
Reorientation of some central schemes was also considered nec essary in the wake of recurrent ru ral distress due to the vagaries of nature. Provisional data of the 2011 Socio Economic and Caste Census released in July released in July showed that a third of the 17.91 crore rural households is landless and depends on manual labour for income, highlighting the need to teach skills.
Currently , the Ajeevika Skills Guidelines issued by the rural development ministry in 2013 limits spending under NRLM on skills and placement through schemes such as the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojna at 25% of the total. The ministry also proposes an interest rate subvention scheme for 100 districts for cheaper credit availability to self-help groups.
“Interest rates for self-help groups can be brought down from 10% to 4% if the repayments are timely ,“ said a senior government official, adding that the expenditure department in the finance ministry had already approved the proposal.
The ministry sees the need to increase expenditure in the wake of the success of LIFE (Livelihoods in Full Employment), a programme under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, which provides training facilities for activities ranging from beauty courses and masonry to horticulture and agriculture. Over 30 lakh workers have enrolled in the programme, opting for skill-sets they want to acquire for a livelihood.

NIIT new training centre offers advanced training programmes - 

NIIT has launched its Flagship Training Centre in central Delhi which will offer advanced training programmes in executive management, banking, digital marketing, big data, IT and other multiple sectors. These programmes will be backed by Cloud Technology to ensure anytime anywhere accessibility.

The new centre is the first step in a series of changes that the company will now witness owing to Business Transformation Programme that was initiated in the last financial year. Focused on upskilling, the centre will offer programmes in Executive Management, Banking and Finance, Digital Marketing and Social Media, Cloud & Mobile Software Engineering, Big Data and Business Analytics, e-Commerce & Business Administration and Cloud Computing & IT Management.

Young professionals and students will have the flexibility to choose options from a range of multiple new-age career programmes, aligned to the evolving needs of the knowledge economy.

Over 38 lakh urban poor imparted employment oriented skills; Madhya Pradesh tops the list 

o enable gainful employment, 38.32 lakh urban poor have so far been provided with skill development training with assistance from the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation. This was informed by the Minister of State for Urban Development and HUPA Shri Babul Supriyo in a written reply to Rajya Sabha today. 

Skill development of urban poor to enable either self-employment or salaried employment was undertaken under the ‘Skill Training for Employment Promotion Amongst Urban Poor (STEP-UP)’ of erstwhile Swarn Jayanti Shahari Rojgar Yojana launched in 1997 and the ‘Employment through Skill Training & Placement’ component of the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) introduced in 2013. Under STEP-UP, 35.26 lakh urban poor were assisted to upgrade their skills while another 3.06 lakh were helped under NULM. 

Madhya Pradesh led the list of performers having assisted 5.06 lakh urban poor followed by Maharashtra (4.86 lakh), Uttar Pradesh (4.51 lakh), Karnataka (4.08 lakh), Tamil Nadu (3.33 lakh), Andhra Pradesh (3.25 lakh), Gujarat (2.22), Bihar(2.11 lakh), West Bengal (1.98 lakh) and Rajasthan (1.07 lakh). Ministry of HUPA has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Skill Development Corporation for facilitating training of 2 lakh urban poor through States/UTs. 

Celebrating World Youth Skills Day 2015

India, where half of its population is below 30 years of age, are poised with the potential to become the next generation leaders, workers, thinkers etc. To embark the beginning of new India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi who in June 2014 had pledged to make country a Skill India is now seems to take shape after one year of rigorous planning and hard work.

Recognising the country’s young demographic dividend, Prime Minister has stressed on producing skilled manpower and pushing ahead the Skill India mission, the government is launching number of initiatives aimed at developing skills and promoting youth in every field. The Prime Minister will unveil new National Policy for Skill Development Mission and Entrepreneurship 2015 on 15 July to mark the occasion of World Youth Skills Day.  He will also roll out all-India flagship scheme, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY).

The government has set the target to skill 40.2 crore people by 2022 under the National Policy for Skill Development. The other initiatives to be launched are the model skill loan scheme, skill card for persons certified under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana.

Below are the opinions of what the stakeholders feel about the Skill India Mission and the initiatives that they are taking to skill youth of India-

Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister of State Ministry for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (Independent Charge) & Parliamentary Affairs said, “Skills and knowledge are the driving forces of economic growth and social development for any country. We are in cognizance of the huge demographic dividend that our country stands to reap, at this point in time.”

Captain Sandeep Malhotra, Director, Alliance Educare and Research Private Limited says, “At the outset, we all acknowledge that institutions follow very fine academic practices for imparting regular curriculum. However, the country’s employment data shows that 82 per cent students face employment crisis due to the gap between their acquired knowledge and the industry needs. As we know, India is a nation with 65 per cent population below 35 years. It poses a tough challenge of skill training of 500 million people by 2022. However, if achieved, it offers a great opportunity of being a large pool of skilled workforce available to us and, to the world.”

Dilip Chenoy, Managing Director and CEO of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), “NSDC is partnering with the state governments to introduce training partners and set up labs and get people skill trained. Two very recent examples are in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh where school children who passed out of 12th and not wanting to continue higher education have got jobs upto Rs. 50,000 a month based on their skill certificate. In many cases where they have not even passed 12th but passed their skill certificate, they have got jobs in the market, say for example in the retail sector, where they are earning an average of `12,000- `13,000 per month.”

Madan Mohan Mittal, Technical Education Minister, Government of Punjab, “Education, creation and adaptation of information, knowledge, skills and values are a key lever of sustainable development. The vision of “Skill India”, “Skill youth” will give equitable opportunities to all to access effective and relevant learning throughout life delivered through multiple formal, non-formal and informal settings. Skill education is important to individuals’ development as it is to the development of the nation and to the world at large.

In India Skill Development is very significant as the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi is the brand Ambassador for carrying this Skill Development in the whole country and he is taking keen interest. More so, inspite of his busy schedule, the Prime Minister has kindly consented to launch National Skill Development Mission and for promotion of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana which is being celebrated as World Youth Skills Day on July 15 at New Delhi.”

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Skill India Campaign to launch on July 15

To embark the first ever World Youth Skills Day on 15 July 2015, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) will launch the skill India campaign. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the Chief Guest for the event to be held at Vigyan bhawan.

The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajiv Pratap Rudy has said that during the function, the Prime Minister will formally launch the National Skill Development Mission, unveil the new National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015, and roll-out all India basis the Ministry’s flagship scheme, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)- the pilot phase of which has already begun.

He said, National Mission will converge, coordinate, implement and monitor skilling activities across India.It will also be a vehicle to achieve the objectives of the Natioal Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015, which will provide policy direction and guidance to all stakeholders in the skill development and entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Rudy said, the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), the Ministry’s flagship, demand-driven, reward-based skill training scheme will incentivise skill training, by providing financial rewards to candidates who successfuly complete approved skill training programmes. PMKVY will skill 24 lakh youth, across India, over the next one year. For the first time, the skills of young people who lack formal certification, such as workers in India’s vast unorganised sector, will be recognised through an initiative known as ‘Recognition of Prior Learning’ (RPL), who will have a chance to be assessed and certified for the skills that they already possess. 10 lakh youth will be certified under PMKVY’s RPL category over the next one year.

He said, the launch of the Skill India Campaign is an important milestone towards achieving the objective of skilling with Speed, Scale and Standards accross the country. This event would bring together key stakeholders including Central Ministries,Departments, State Governments, leading Industry Bodies, and trainees. Partnerships with all these stakeholders is vital to ensure that Skill India, is a success.

These MoUs seek to:

• Leverage existing government infrastructure to deliver skill training programmes
• Mobilize CSR funds of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) to support skilling
• Upgrade equipment of ITIs and NSDC/SSC affiliated training providers
• Promote and scale up apprenticeship training in PSUs
• Incentivize hiring of NSQF certified personnel
• Promote adoption of ITIs by PSUs, including provision of technical and resource support
• Introduce vocational courses in schools run by Ministries/PSUs
• Establish ‘Centres of Excellence’ for high quality skill training
• Align training programmes to NSQF and mobilize workforce for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

Green signal for skill entrepreneurship policy

In a first to implement skill development, while promoting entrepreneurship, the Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have given its approval for the country’s first integrated National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015 today. The policy acknowledges the need for an effective roadmap for promotion of entrepreneurship as the key to a successful skills strategy. The vision of the policy aims “to create an ecosystem of empowerment by skilling on a large scale at speed with high standards and to promote a culture of innovation based entrepreneurship which can generate wealth and employment so as to ensure sustainable livelihoods for all citizens in the country”. To gain its momentum, the policy has four thrust areas. It addresses key obstacles to skilling, including low aspirational value, lack of integration with formal education, lack of focus on outcomes, low quality of training infrastructure and trainers, among others. The policy further seeks to align supply and demand for skills by bridging existing skill gaps, promoting industry engagement, operationalising a quality assurance framework, leverage technology and promoting greater opportunities for apprenticeship training. There is also a focus on Equity, which targets skilling opportunities for socially/geographically marginalised and disadvantaged groups. Skill development and entrepreneurship programmes for women has a specific focus in the policy. In the aspect of building or generating entrepreneurship for skill-based people, the policy seeks to educate and equip potential entrepreneurs, both within and outside the formal education system. It also plans to connect entrepreneurs to mentors, incubators and credit markets, foster innovation and entrepreneurial culture, improve ease of doing business and promote a focus on social entrepreneurship. The previous National Policy on Skill Development was formulated by the Ministry of Labour and Employment in 2009 and was reviewed after five years to align the policy framework with emerging national and international trends.

NSDC, Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages signs MoU for Skill Development

National Skill Development Corporation signed a MoU with Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd, to involve corporate India in the National Skills Agenda. - Mr. Dilip Chenoy, MD & CEO, National Skill Development Corporation and Ms. Shukla Wassan, Executive Director, Legal & Company Secretary, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd. Signed the MOU for a period of five years.

The project will operate under two models:

COMMUNITY SKILL BUILDING which will impart skill based training for enhancing self-employability and entrepreneurship among youth in the areas of Carpentry, Mobile Repairing, Tailoring, Horticulture, Beauty Services, Cutting/Tailoring, Construction, Electrician, etc based on Skill gaps and youth aspirations in addition to Digital literacy, IT and Personality development courses.

PRAGATI which will enable in economic empowerment of approximately 15000 women and create earning opportunities for them through training in retail programs. PRAGATI will focus on implementing customized programs to help prospective women entrepreneurs across all targeted areas such as Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu, Bihar, North East, Odisha, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh etc.

Re-skilling skill development

Rigorous evaluations are needed to ensure vocational training results in desirable outcomes in terms of jobs and wages.

In July 2013, 18-year-old Rajesh passed out of an ITI in Rajasthan, completing a vocational course in computer hardware. Today, Rajesh works as an assistant in his neighbour’s car garage. After six months of a fruitless job search, he took up this one, earning Rs 5,000 a month. Rajesh’s training has gone to waste, with both his time and the government’s resources spent to no avail. This is not a unique story.

There are hundreds of youth like Rajesh who complete government training schemes but cannot find employment commensurate with their new skills.

Over the next few decades, India has an opportunity to reap a potential demographic dividend. The working-age (15-59 years) population is growing. India’s median age is 27 years — a decade less than China’s. As per a recent UNFPA report, 356 million Indians are in the age group of 10-24 years — more than the total population of the US. India needs to equip this large youth pool with industry-relevant skills. Failing to do so could lead to a huge demographic burden.

To grab this opportunity, the government has set an ambitious target of skilling 500 million youth by 2022, a number first predicted by C.K. Prahlad in 2007, and thereafter adopted as the target in the National Policy for Skill Development (NPSD), 2009. The present government has gone a step further by creating a ministry for skill development and entrepreneurship. The skills mantra has caught on, with the government soon to launch a national skills mission. Over 20 Central ministries are funding skills training through 70-plus schemes. State skill development missions are busy meeting their own targets. But in some states, the missions exist only on paper. The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) is striving to meet its target of skilling or up-skilling 150 million people by 2022.

But are these programmes working? Are they leading to better employment opportunities and wages? Are they increasing the productivity of firms? The success of most government schemes is judged by whether input and output targets are met — numbers enrolled and numbers of trainees certified. The government is yet to develop a central system for tracking outcomes. There are no central checks to verify whether placements reported are accurate, no monitoring system to see what wages are earned or whether jobs are commensurate with training and aspirations.

There is a need for a more nuanced understanding of the impact of vocational programmes on labour market outcomes. However, there is a dearth of such rigorous evaluation in developing countries. For instance, results from randomised evaluations of two similar skilling programmes in Latin America are inconclusive. “Youth in Action”, a programme that provided disadvantaged youth in Colombia a combination of in-classroom and on-the-job training, significantly raised both employment and earnings among