Relevance : GS Paper III (Indian Economy)
[1000 words summarized to 200]
Pillars of skill development
There are five pillars of the skills ecosystem:
- the secondary schools/polytechnics;
- industrial training institutes;
- private training providers offering short-term training;
- 16 Ministries providing mostly short-term training; and
- employers offering enterprise-based training.
Efforts towards skill development
- All training programmes/courses to be NSQF-compliant.
- National skill competitions, or India Skills
- Participation in World Skills Competition
- Abilympics for Persons with Disabilities.
- Sharda Prasad Expert Group report
Hurdles
- industrial training institutes courses are not aligned with the NSQF.
- NSQF has not been well accepted or adopted across India.
- no clear definition of the course curriculum within the NSQF
- no connection of tertiary level vocational courses to prior knowledge
- no real alignment between HRD Ministry and Ministry of Skill Development
Way forward
- need for more holistic training
- need to re-examine the short-term NSQF-based NSDC courses.
- reduction in complications caused by too many Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) anchoring skill courses
- provide broader skills in broader occupational groups.
- Consolidation of sectors with the National Industrial Classification of India.
- India could learn a lesson from other nations such as Germany
- Vocational education must be imparted in broadly defined occupational skills
Conclusion
Skill India needs a sharp realignment, if India is to perform well in the World Skills competition later this year.
