Special Feature – 22
Fast Tracking Skill Development
*Sarita Brara
‘Skill building’ and ‘knowledge’ are quintessential for
economic growth of any country in today’s world. More so for a country like
India where 13 million youth are estimated to enter the job market annually. There
is another reason too which makes ‘skill building’ an imperative for the growth
of country’s economy. While the labour force
in the industrialized world is expected to decline by 4%, in our country it
will increase by 32% in 20 years time. This is an indicator that India is
poised to become a hub for skilled labour force. Skill development is, therefore, an urgent priority for the
government. Taking
into account the estimated requirement of skilled manpower in future the
government has set a target of creating 500 million strong skilled manpower by
2022.
The challenge is huje considering that so far only
4.69 per cent of total work force in India has received any formal skill
training. This is much lower than even some of the developing countries and far
behind the developed nations where the percentage of skilled manpower ranges
from 52 per cent in USA to as high as 96 per cent in South Korea.
In
order to develop a robust policy framework and
programme of action for scaling and speeding up skill development efforts, NDA
Government set up a separate Ministry of Skill development and Entrepreneurship
in December 2014.
In
addition, to fast track and upgrade existing skill development programmes, several
new schemes have been initiated with timelines for achieving the set targets.
An ambitious skill development programme Pradhan Mantri Kaushal VikasYojana was initiated in 2015..
Later PMKVY was approved for another four years on 2nd of October
last year with a target to skill ten million youth with greater focus on
improving placement opportunities through high quality training . Under this Scheme, Training and
Assessment fees are fully borne by the Government. The scheme being
implemented through the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) envisages
linking aptitude, aspiration, and knowledge of the skilled workforce it
creates with employment opportunities and demands in the market.
Another
scheme Pradhan Mantri YUVA Yojana was launched in November last year
which is being implemented in association with Wadhwani Operating Foundation as
its Knowledge Partner. On line
Entrepreneurship Education will be provided to about 15 lakh students across
the country through 3050 Project Institutes consisting of Institutions of
Higher Learning; Schools; ITIs and Entrepreneurship Development Centres, both
Government and Private. The Ministry would also provide financial assistance to
these institutions for different activities under the Scheme. The five-year
Scheme is expected to witness setting up of more than 23,000 enterprises that will
create more than 2.30 lakh direct and indirect jobs in the country. The
Scheme providing for financial assistance to both Government and Private
Institutions would cover 84,000 students in the current fiscal.
National
Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme
Apprenticeship
Training is considered to be one of the most efficient ways to develop skilled
manpower . It provides for an industry led, practice oriented, effective and
efficient mode of formal training. This is first of the kind scheme that offers
financial incentives to employers. Under the scheme ,twenty five percent of the
prescribed stipend payable to an apprentice would be reimbursed to the
employers directly by the centre . 50 Lakh apprentices are expected to be
trained by 2019-20 under this initiative by working pro-actively with the
industry including MSME.
It was in the 1950’s that Industrial Training
Institutes were established under the Craftsman Training Scheme by the Centre
for imparting
skills in various vocational trades to meet the manpower requirements for
technology and industrial growth of the country. In the
period 2014 to 2017 , 3342 new ITIs have been set up increasing the seating
capacity to 5,85,284. The ITI
have helped lakhs of youth earn their livelihood through employment or
starting their own work.
A scheme to up-grade Government ITIs into Model ITIs was initiated in
December 2014 . The main objective was to
develop a benchmark for industry oriented ITI which would serve as a model for
other ITIs and would also raise dignity of ITI education. These Model ITIs were
to establish links with the Industrial clusters in their vicinity to enable them
to function as a solution provider to the cluster group.Gunjan Gautam who was trained motor vehicle mechanic in
2014 from Govt. Modal ITI Nalagarh District Solan, Himachal Pradesh is now a proprietor
in dealership venture having branchs at Hamirpur, Nadaun and Jawalaji
in Himachal Pradesh and over 60 Mechanics/Workers work under his
establishment.
In all 25 ITI were identified for upgradation as model ITI.
With regard to a scheme for Up-gradation
of 1396 Government ITIs through Public Private Partnership(PPP), a total of
1227 Govt. ITIs have been covered in 31 States and Union Territories .
Government
has also initiated several other incentive driven schemes including awards
for giving push to skilling in India to match international standards
.
India
is one of the youngest nations in the world . More than 62 per cent of its
population is in the working age group of (15-59 years), and more than 54
percent of its total population below 25 years of age .Its population in the 15-59
age group is expected to expand over the next decade .This is in contrast to
developed countries like USA, Europe and Japan where the average age would
be in the range 45 to 49. As pointed out earlier. India could reap this
demographic dividend in a big way but the challenge is to equip its
workforce with employable skills and knowledge for the economic growth of our
country.
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*Author is a New Delhi based independent Journalist and writes
regularly in Newspapers on social sector issues.
Views expressed in the article are author’s personal.