Skill development has received a lot of attention in the country in recent years. Though the early Five Year Plans, too, had aimed to create and improve job skills among the people, it got special attention after the launch of the economic liberalisation programme.
The UPA government had formulated the policies for it and the NDA government has set up a ministry for skill development and created a mission for it. But the efforts are yet to produce good results. While Japan and South Korea have 80% and 96% skilled manpower, respectively, and China and the US 55%, only 4.5% of India’s population is skilled in any useful way. If the skill levels of people are not developed as the population increases, joblessness, deprivation and social and economic conflicts will only increase. Therefore, a great challenge before the governments at the Centre and in the states is to equip the people for jobs.
Both short-term and long-term plans have to be made to improve skills. Since the requirements are immediate, programmes have to be implemented which are designed to impart specific skills to people in the short term. This is not easy as a majority of the population is semi-literate or illiterate. Retraining and upgradation of skills are also needed for a large number of workers who are already in the workforce. Longer term plans are needed to improve education and school enrolment levels and to calibrate education to suit specific needs. Curricula may have to be changed to meet particular objectives. Vocational education should get higher priority and investments have to be made in training institutes.
It has been noted that even among those who have received vocational training, many do not possess the skills that are in demand. Since the demands for skills and the educational and other levels of people vary from region to region and from state to state, the programmes have to be flexible and aligned to local environments. So, the state governments have an important role in formulating and implementing the programmes. Though the country has achieved consistently good economic growth, it has been described as jobless growth. About a million people enter the job market every month and enough jobs have to be found for them. Economic development will benefit ordinary people only if they are made participants in it. At this stage of development, growth policies and strategies should be predominantly employment-oriented. Conversely, investment will grow only if a skilled workforce is available. Skilling India is, therefore, a crucial task and challenge.
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