India

how young people will become skilled

In fact, in the matter of skill development, major policy decisions in India have either not been made and even if they have been, then the level of development has not been completed.

Sushil Kumar Singh

In fact, in the matter of skill development, major policy decisions in India have either not been made and even if they have been, then the level of development has not been completed. If this were the case, there would not be only twenty five thousand skill development centers in a country with a population of one hundred and thirty-six crores and among sixty five percent of the youth.

Skill development is the dimension of skill that defines the administration of development. When the administration of development gets down to the ground, the script of good governance is written. The context implied perspective is also that the over-the-top thrust for skill development is insufficient. Due to the corona effect, its difficulties have increased comparatively. The pandemic has increased the need for international cooperation in the field of skill development.

India is a country of youth. In such a situation, if a country with skill development is to be created, then professional training and skill development programs will have to be run according to the demand of the market. In the stream of good governance, the ideology of skill development is as relevant as the government being the best facilitator for ease of living. Along with making the skill development comparatively more comprehensive, its access has to be made easy, it has to be marketed, the avenues for infrastructural development will have to be widened, only then the skilled youth will be able to play their role in the mainstream of development.

Skill development not only means making the youth skilled but also making them market-ready. Statistics show that despite the programs and campaigns in this direction for many years, only five percent of the skill development personnel are in India. While this number is very modest compared to other countries of the world. This figure is forty-six percent in China, fifty-two in America, seventy-five in Germany, ninety-six percent in South Korea and thirty-eight percent in countries like Mexico.

The Skill India Mission was launched in the year 2015 to provide employment by providing skill training to the vast youth population of the country. The Kaushal Vikas Yojana was a major cornerstone on the creation of skilled manpower at the grassroots level, with a target to provide skill training to at least twenty four lakh youth every year. But can this goal be achieved with just twenty five thousand skill development centers? By the way, six years ago the number of skill development centers was only fifteen thousand, which was less even earlier and today it is still less in view of the population and the pace of skill development.

The practice of good governance may have been reflected in the last decade of the twentieth century, but its presence is centuries old. Time and again good governance is good governance which not only seeks its presence in all dimensions, but also tries to cherish transparency and sensitivity along with public welfare. Be it governance or administration, if it lacks openness, then good governance is far-fetched. The concerns regarding skill development are decades old. But looking at the recent perspective, the objective of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana was to train people who are less educated or who are leaving school and sitting at home. Obviously, under this scheme, the skills of such people were to be developed and employed in proportion to their ability. Loan facility is also given for this. This is so that as many people as possible can take advantage of it.

Good governance and skill development are a synergistic system. Being better at one is sure to make the other better. It is worth noting that good governance is an economic definition given by the World Bank which has a culture of moving from the state to the market. Economic justice is a beautiful concept of good governance which has been nurtured after liberalisation. The important side is also that governments have been working on skill development for a long time, but the real side of it does not look that bright. In fact, in the matter of skill development, major policy decisions have either not been taken in India and even if they did, the level of development has not been completed.

If this were the case, there would not be only twenty five thousand skill development centers in a country with a population of one hundred and thirty-six crores and among sixty-five percent of the youth. Statistics show that there are more than five lakh skill development institutions in China, one lakh each in Germany and Australia. Similar centers can be found in a small country like South Korea. In China, training is provided in more than three thousand skills. In India its number does not appear to be more than fifty. China spends about 2.5 percent of its GDP on vocational education, while India spends much less and only a meager amount of its GDP compared to China. This is the reason why we lag behind in skill development. To become a five trillion dollar economy by the year 2024, India needs a growth rate of more than ten percent. For this skill development has to be made comprehensive and vocational.

The Skill India program can give a favorable place to good governance, provided it lives up to its objectives. The objective of this program is to skill at least 300 million people by the year 2022. This target raises doubts, given the on-going 2022 and the pace of the skill development campaign. When the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship was created in the year 2014, it was full of hope, but today it is burdened. Clearly, the skill development campaign is reeling from a number of challenges which include inadequate training, lack of entrepreneurial skills, limited role of industries as fundamental factors, low attractiveness and attitude of employers.

Not only this, there is an emphasis on distributing certificates to a great extent in place of skill or skill at skill centers. Whereas the reality is that the market is full of competition where the coin flips when ability is on the table. In such a situation, it is neither right nor possible to expect employment on the basis of certificate. Statistics in India have also shown that three out of four BTech degree holders and nine out of ten degree holders are not fit for work. In such a situation, those who are given certificates only in the name of skill development, what will be the condition of their employment.

The question is what should the government do. Education and training expenditure should be increased. However, there is an increase in this item in the last budget. Training institutes should also be evaluated from time to time as well as skill surveys should be conducted. The path to skill development needs to be full of good governance and for this all sections of the society have to be involved in it. A report of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) says that economic growth rate can be increased by more than four percent if the total women’s participation in India’s labor market is increased to seventy percent like in America. To give height to skill development, women who are half of the world will also have to be included in this stream on a large scale, so that by making them skilled, not only the Ganga of development can be shed in the country, but the dream of self-reliant India can also be realized. Can you

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