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It is belief of government of India that skills and knowledge are the driving forces of economic growth and social development of any country. They have become even more important given the increasing pace of globalization and technological changes taking place in the world. As India moves progressively towards becoming a “Knowledge Economy”, it becomes increasingly important that vocational education and training (VET) create and nurture a skill
development system. The issue of skill building has been at the forefront of policy debates in recent years. Unprecedented scope for skill development in the country arises from the unique 25-year window of opportunity, called India's demographic dividend. Skill enhancement of the younger generation is imperative to trigger economic development in India. Moreover, it is expected that the ageing economy phenomenon in rich countries will globally create an acute shortage of skilled manpower approximately 56.5 million by 2020.
This belief goes further in asserting that by getting the skill development act right, India can have a skilled manpower surplus of approximately 47 million Skill formation, productivity and growth are interlinked. Skill perceived as the ability to efficiently utilize human energy and perform better in any occupation, could be acquired and updated. Skill needs are always dynamic and acquired skills need to match demand on a continuous basis. Skill base of population in India is very low. Nearly 90 percent of total population in India do not have any skills.
See the exactly opposite picture belying this hope. As per 61st NSSO Survey, 2004-05, the total workforce in the Indian economy was 459 million of which the unorganized sector accounted for 395 million, constituting 86 percent of the total workers (and 433 million, i.e. 93 percent of the total workforce was in informal employment).2 The sector cuts across all economic activities and includes rural and urban areas. It contributes to about 60 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The unorganized sector is dominated by own-account workers; workers and apprentices in micro enterprises; unpaid family workers; casual labourers; home based workers; peripatetic workers and migrant labourers; out-of-school youth and adults in need of skills; and farmers and artisans in rural areas. These groups are characterized largely by low skills, poor productivity and, low and uncertain income.
Also, consider following challenges in realizing the targets of skill development. 1) Sheer size of unorganized sector, 2)Too heterogeneous, broad age range, unorganized, widely distributed sector, 3)Generally poor educational level, 4) Trainers must know and be able to communicate in local language, 5) Existing skills have been acquired largely through informal apprenticeship, 6) Competencies not certified, 7) High opportunity cost to trainee, 8) Training as worker's right in the context of RTE, 9) Should training not be a requirement for employment in the organized sector?, 10) Research in Training pedagogy and delivery issues, 11) Training coordination, 12) Requiring formal sector training institutions to work also for unorganized sector, 13) Service sector as an area of special thrust, 14) Methodological and Logistical problems in carrying out surveys
Educational levels of the labour work force, which have significant bearing on capacity to acquire and absorb skills, have not undergone any significant changes in last twenty years. Improving the educational and skill levels could seriously contribute to productivity growth. The skill up-gradation all the more important to take advantages of the "demographic dividend". Poor skill and educational levels could also be a factor for the predominance of informal sector and near stagnant employment in organised sector. Considering the importance of skill development and training, the eleventh five year plan launched a National Skill Development Mission to bring about a paradigm change in handling of "Skill Development"programs. A three tier structure of Prime Minister`s National Council on Skill Development, secondly National Skill Development Coordination Board and National Skill Development Corporation.
Since vocational training is a concurrent subject in the Indian Constitution, both the Central and State governments share the responsibility of financing vocational training. The Central Government has created a Skill Development Fund with an initial corpus of Rs. 99.5 billion for supporting the activities of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to provide financial support to skill development initiatives emanating from the private sector. The corpus of the fund is expected to go up to about Rs.150 billion as it is intended to garner capital from governments, public and private sector, and bilateral & multilateral sources.
In skill development and training, both the content and the delivery mechanism are equally important. This sets the case for involvement of corporate sector. Corporates in India need to be aware about their social responsibility. Ten most important sectors of the economy where skill gaps have been identified could be picked up for initial action. These sectors are: auto & auto components, building & construction industry, transport & logistics, organised retail, healthcare, food processing, education & skill development, gems and jewelery, leather & leather goods. ITIs hold the key to cater to the needs of manufacturing sector. Informal service sector has emerged as an important sector with large employment opportunities. Despite the sound intentions, there is lack of linkages with industry; many of the skills have been drawn up without active consultation with industry. No attempt has been made to standardize curriculum across ITIs.
The skill gap in Indian economy are across the spectrum and are not confined to lower or intermediate levels. Even at the top level, full equivalent of man-power employed in primary R&D is just around one lakh persons. The thrust of skills, therefore, is required at traditional and modern industry levels and also at the level of basic sciences and research. Skill gap should also be identified at the top level and incentive structure should be such which encourages people to take these activities. Efforts are needed to bring vocational education programs parallel to the normal conventional school and college program by providing lateral induction from one stream to another at all stages. This will remove the apprehensions of vocational training as inferior to conventional education and an option for school leavers/dropouts.
In most countries, apprenticeship concept is the most important intermediary step for improving employability of the workers. In India, there is no institutionalized infrastructure which matches an apprentice candidate to an employer, an employer to a candidate, and a trained apprentice to a job. The apprenticeship regime therefore did not pick up. This must be remodeled so that it becomes effective on job training rather than compliance with the act without any focus on the outcome. Reason for the limited use of apprenticeship route for employment for the trainees is the low rates of stipend and for the enterprise its cost.
Skill standard-based curriculum and assessments provide students with credentials that link recognition with workplace requirement. Industries then are expected to be involved in developing benchmarks for assessments to evaluate skills, knowledge and abilities in classrooms and on-the-job training or internships. The training modules and materials of the various trades of ITIs have become outdated and are not in line with the needs of the industry. This could be a continuous exercise. Identifying learning needs and needs of skill identification and standardization can be mapped by coalition of industry bodies or sectoral skill councils. These councils can work on identifying skill development needs with an emphasis on employability and training sector wise, mapping the standards of training, procedures of delivery. The councils can also measure quality assessment criteria by reviewing mechanism and parameters on which training institutes and programs. Next, these councils can determine competence standards and qualifications as per the changing scenario of industry employability.
The structured ways to impart skill development could be (i) using innovative delivery models such as decentralized delivery, mobile training, distance learning, e-learning and web-based learning; (ii) involving panchayats, municipalities and other local bodies in skill development and employment generation at the local level in collaboration with Self Help Groups (SHGs), cooperatives and Non-government Organisations (NGOs); (iii) establishing sector specific Labour Market Information System (LMIS) and Human Resource Planning at national and state levels, and area-specific planning at local levels with the help of Sector Skill Councils (under National Skill Development Corporation) to undertake labour market analysis; (iv) establishing a 'National Vocational Qualifications Framework' to facilitate standardized and acceptable, international comparability of qualifications; and (v) strengthening and upgrading Employment Exchanges under the National Employment Service to provide counselling, guidance and placement services to employment seekers. However, all these are actions to be taken in the future.
India is at the cusp of a great new opportunity: the demographic dividend. The proportion of the dependent population is decreasing, and the share of the working age population has been increasing, and will continue to increase over the next two decades. If they are not productively employed, this dividend might become a demographic nightmare. On the other hand, if they are better educated and more skilled, they will be able to not only contribute to India's growth.
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