With the opening up of the economy and increase in exports, improving the productivity of the workforce is a key challenge for many corporations and entities in India. Further, as the Indian economy grows, a large number of skilled persons will be required to sustain this growth. Current studies indicate that net enrolment in vocational courses in India is about 5.5 million per year, compared to 90 million in China and 11.3 million in the United States. A mere 2 percent of Indian workers are formally skilled. The National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015, sets the target at skilling 300 million persons by 2022. Given this ambitious goal, the Policy primarily addresses the objective of skilling at scale with speed, standard (quality) and sustainability. Further, it aims to provide an umbrella framework for all skilling activities being carried out within the country, to align them to common standards, and link skilling with demand centres. In addition to laying down the objectives and expected outcomes, the policy also identifies the overall institutional framework which will act as a vehicle to reach the expected outcomes.
Most of the formal skills-related training in the government apparatus happens mostly through the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and the Industrial Training Centres (ITCs), and polytechnics, which come under the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Many of the ITIs have now been brought under the public-private partnership (PPP) route.
The quality of technical and vocational education imparted in vocational training institutions such as ITIs and polytechnics in the country has been a matter of concern among policy makers. As Mr Ramadorai, Chairman, National Skill Development Agency & National Skill Development Corporation, aptly puts it, skill training in India needs to be based on National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) and industry-led standards only.
The vocational education stream has poor visibility due to several reasons. Financing of skill development, needless to say, is a vital input. To meet the requirements of infrastructure, trainers’ training and such other expenditure, the government alone cannot meet the total costs. In this context, the role that CSR can play is enormous. This interview with Mr Ramadorai throws light on several concerns related to skill development in a country like India
