Today’s competitive world demands trained, certified and skilled manpower to address the challenges of growth and converting them into opportunities. 

A huge chunk of youth population well versed in the English Language exists in India signifying immense potential to meet the skill needs of other countries and also cater to its own demand for skilled manpower.

But ironically, most industries in India are currently struggling with scarcity of skilled labor. Although more than 40 million people are registered in employment exchanges, only 0.2 million get jobs.

Our education system is largely responsible for this juxtaposition. The current education system does not focus on training young people in employable skills that can provide them with employment opportunities. Today, a large section of India’s labour force has outdated skills. With current and expected economic growth, this challenge is going to only increase further, since more than 75% of new job opportunities are expected to be “skill-based.”

 We can learn a few valuable lessons on this front from countries known for their mastery and perfection in the global arena. Several countries have benefitted greatly from focused programmes on skilling workforce, including Japan, US, UK and Germany. More than 75 percent of Germans below the age of 22 have attended an apprenticeship programme which has shown results of increased productivity, greater staff retention and a more highly motivated workforce. By emulating and incorporating such programmes in our curriculum India can also ensure batches of skilled workforce along with academically brilliant youths.

Seeing the ongoing trend the Government is therefore strongly emphasizing on upgrading people’s skills by providing vocational education and training to them. It has formulated the National Policy on Skill Development and set a target for providing skills to 500 million people by 2022.

Arunachal Pradesh government has also placed huge emphasis on skilling youths with scores undergoing job oriented training in various beauty and wellness treatment trades across the country. But this alone won’t do. The biggest challenge is in finding out how to make skilling programmes aspirational? How do you create a desire or need in the mind of people to get pursue skill development programmes vis-a-vis a pure educational course?

There is a need for looking beyond beauty and wellness alone.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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