In the FICCI Global Skills Summit 2024, Col. Gunjan Chowdhary, Director, National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET), Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India, sheds light on the pressing needs for skill development in the nation. He stated that the government has taken several initiatives to tackle the educational challenges faced by youngsters and put them on the right track of learning. 

Skilling must be made aspirational, turning knowledge into industry-ready skills. As there are numerous learners in non-technical fields, it is pivotal that we focus on transforming education into employable skills. Society must be involved as a crucial stakeholder in this journey. Promoting the social sector and integrating industry partnerships are vital to developing a strong skilling ecosystem in India.

Government's Focus on Skilling

With an aim to make learning as an aspiration, the government rolled out national education policy in 2020. Learning goes beyond the range of limits of general education, vocational training, skill development, and experiential learning, placing all sorts of education on a unified platform. Realizing this, the government launched a centralized regulatory mechanism in the form of NCBET to address the fragmentation in skill development regulation. The National Education Policy removes rigid boundaries between different types of learning, promoting an integrated and holistic approach to education.

NSQF-Skilling Integration

The National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF), modified the framework based on The National Education Policy (NEP) and National Credit Framework (NCRF). Hence, skilling has been integrated with education, removing traditional demarcations and emphasizing its importance. We have introduced skilling programs for students starting from the sixth standard, exposing them to various specializations early on, allowing them to explore and progress further in their learning journey.

Skill-based learning

The government has introduced provisions under NEPA, ADWAR, and NCRF, enabling 50% of the learning component to be skill-based. This approach removes hard separations, focusing that skilling should be aspirational and practical. With 50% of learning focusing on skill development, the knowledge gained must be directly applied. For instance, while engineers complete their technical qualifications and courses, they often lack industry readiness. To address this gap, courses in robotics, cloud computing, problem-solving, critical thinking, cybersecurity, IoT, and other skills have been introduced to make graduates industry-ready. The government has started implementing these types of programs to align education with industry requirements.

Industry Readiness and Employability

Currently, we are in the process of integrating employability skills into all aspects of education. Having knowledge alone is not enough and employability requires soft skills, entrepreneurial abilities, language skills, and a sense of nationalism. These elements are imperative and are being made compulsory across all educational activities. With the educational policies being in place processes are being developed, and with time, they will become aspirational. It is crucial to instill confidence in students, assuring them that these policies are designed to help them become responsible citizens, contribute to the economy, and play an active role in making India a developed nation.

Key Recommendations

The concept of skilling showcases a change in mindset in contrast with traditional formal or vocational education. Let us consider a scenario of a graduate and a plumber both aspiring to apply for a US visa. While the plumber may be successful in obtaining the visa due to demonstrable competency, the graduate may face challenges despite formal education credentials. This highlights the importance of integrating society as a primary and active stakeholder in the skilling framework which is the first recommendation.

The typical mindset is that skilling is merely technical education, which is only a smaller portion of the nation. There are around 43,000 colleges and 1100 universities, with the majority being humanities, social science and even other areas. Hence, we have to focus on these areas.   

In addition to the above two recommendations, the stakeholders must join the forum provided by NITIYO and focus on three essential things for best practices. It starts with the policy-making, the process and finally, the implementation. We can progress together by having a synchronized mind and working together as a federal state or by having education and skilling as part of the concurrent list. It is essential to have harmonization for skilling and the country to come out and become a world leader and the world's skill capital.