Time to Reskill the Skilling Plan

Countries with advanced skilling ecosystems integrate national priorities and industry initiatives through a collaborative framework. Governments handle investment, regulations and standards, while the framework creates demand for skills with financial and non-financial incentives, involving employers in the skilling and employability effort.

Over the last decades, ‘Skill India’ has enhanced access to quality education and skilling, including establishment of new ITI capacities, big increase in apprenticeship engagement, creation of new-age and future skill courses, launch of DPI of skilling in the form of Skill India Digital Hub (SIDH), and rolling out short-term training programmers under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY).

NEP 2020 envisions integrating skilling into all educations forms, inspiring reforms like National Credit Framework (NCrF) and National Curriculum Framework (NCF).

It’s the right time to marry supply-side interventions in skilling and education with the market-led incentive framework to bring India as a committed partner of the effort.

Other countries provide a model for building industry stakes in their skilling ecosystems.

Involving industries as co-investors by using tax levies, exemptions and GoI incentives, such as matching funds or rebates.

Some out-of-the-box solutions are needed to ensure a direct stake of India in the skill development effort.

Can India’s own set of social contributions – CSR and labour cess – be brought closer to skilling? If GoI’s key focus should be on quality assurance, can the responsibility of skilling be shifted from government to industry through a demand-led model in which skill vouchers are given to firms for undertaking upskilling/reskilling of their workforce at eligible training centers?

On the invested side, India could consider introducing an element of skilling in schemes like PLI and inbound foreign investment. Such skill investment shall have guaranteed market alignment, compared to government programmes, where some time lag to understand and implement changing trends is inevitable.

All these, and many more innovative solutions, may emerge if India takes a holistic view of skilling and employability, and takes measures to build a stake in skilling for all stakeholders.

This is as important as supply-side investments for building a dynamic and sensitive skill ecosystem.

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