Government increases focus on youth skill development

Scaling up the skill development capacities would gain significant momentum with Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras that the government plans to set-up immediately in every district of the country. 500 such centres would be set-up in the current financial year which, together with existing skill development ecosystem, would be capable of training over 1.5 crore youths in 2016-17. “Every district of the country would have at least one iconic, inspirational and model skill institute having a specific target to skill youths based on the standards set by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC),” says Jayant Krishna, MD & CEO, NSDC. These kendras would be a new category of skill institutes which would boost existing skilling capacities that NSDC has built-up with its partners (mostly industries both in public and private space). Besides addressing the specific skill-gaps in every district, these institutes would train youths both for manufacturing as well as for services sector jobs.

India has set up an ambitious target to skill over 400 million (40 crore) youths by 2022 under its Skill India Mission.  In fact, “Skill India Mission is the largest human resource development exercise ever undertaken by any country in the history of mankind,” says Jayant. It has trained over 1.04 crore youths last year (2015-16) which was a 37% jump from the achievements made in 2014-15.  Krishna is confident of skilling over 1.5 crore this year. Since we have a mammoth target (40 crore), it would take a while to address the poor skill-ratio that India currently suffers from. Only about 4%of India’s (48 crore) workforce has taken some kind of vocational training before entering the job market.

To make this ratio look decent, the government would also set-up 5,000 new Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in next one year with a significant enhancement of their skilling capabilities. To make skill training aspirational among youths, 500 Rozgar (employment) fairs would be held across ITIs and other skill imparting verticals. 

By 2025, almost one in five of the world’s working age population (18.3%) will be an Indian. To leverage jobs opportunities abroad, government also plans to set-up 50 overseas employment skill training centers especially in the migratory pockets of India. The Prime Minister has also stressed on the need for proper skill mapping and identification of the future requirements for skills, so that school-children and parents are well aware of the emerging trends in the job market. The skills imparted under the mission mostly prepare youths for the entry level jobs or for self employment opportunities.