At just 75 years of independence and with a population median age of 26, we are a young country in every sense of the phrase. What’s more, with an average 1% growth rate, our population is getting younger by the year. We have one of the highest working-age populations, with 63% in the age bracket of 15-59 years, a demographic advantage over economies like China and Japan that are ageing faster.
Our young population is one of our biggest assets, and biggest drivers of economic growth. A younger population gives us a ready workforce for our rapidly industrialising economy, while also driving increased savings and domestic consumption for years. That is, of course, assuming that the population in question has the necessary skills to contribute.
To make the most of our human capital, PM Narendra Modi launched the Skill India campaign on 15 July 2015 to train over 30 crore people in India in different skills by 2022. The campaign is multi-pronged and covers several initiatives: National Skill Development Mission, National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, 2015, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), Skill Loan scheme and the Rural India Skill initiative. Each of these initiatives targets a distinct segment, with the aim of raising the employability of Indian youth.
Bridging the Industry-Academia gap.
Unfortunately, the industry academia gap is a known one in India. Out of 100 students who are qualifying 10+2, only 26 get employed because the education they receive doesn’t match the skill sets required by employers. This means that while our literacy numbers are steadily increasing, the skill gap still remains.
To address this specific issue, what the government needs is a way to enforce the existing standards that are encompassed in the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF). The NSQF is a competency-based framework that organises qualifications according to a series of knowledge, skills and aptitude. It clearly defines learning outcomes which the learner must possess irrespective of whether they are achieved through formal, non-formal or informal learning at each level of learning.
National Occupational Standards (NOS), on the other hand, are statements of the skills, knowledge and understanding needed for effective performance in a job role: they lay down what an individual performing that task should know and also are able to do. These standards can form the benchmarks for various education and training programs. Alignment between the NOS and NSQF creates several advantages.
For starters, a quality assurance framework resulting in standardised, consistent, nationally acceptable outcomes of training across the country. Our trained workforce would then also have global mobility through international equivalence of NSQF. For future employees and employers alike, this creates a mapping of progression pathways within sectors, as well as cross sectorally. So, employees know the learning pathways to follow for their dream jobs, and employers are able to invest in the right training needed for their best and brightest to move to the next level. Moreover, Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) ensures we leave no one behind – even if their skills come from a non-formal structure.
Laying strong foundations
To take on a program of this magnitude, a foundation of quality needs to exist. We need standards and certifications, auditors and inspectors who help keep those standards in place, as well as the bodies that make sure that these auditors and inspectors themselves are qualified. This is where the Quality Council of India (QCI) comes in.
For 25 years now, QCI has been making deep investments in creating India’s ecosystem of quality. QCI is made up of several constituent boards, of which the National Accreditation Board for Education and Training (NABET) is set to play a pivotal role in India’s skilling programmes and initiatives.
NABET has an established mechanism for the accreditation and certification of educational institutions, vocational training institutes and for various skill certification bodies. NABET does this across three clear verticals:
- FEED (Formal Education Excellence Division): which looks into the accreditation of schools and undertakes various quality assessment projects as needed by state and government departments, in addition to also raising awareness about school accreditation standards.
- Govt Projects Division: which acts as a national monitoring and implementation unit for Ministry of MSME’s Lean Manufacturing Competitiveness Scheme, as well as accreditation of Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) consultant organisations.
- Skill Training and Services Division: which looks after the accreditation of both training courses and consultant organisations.
With these foundations in place, initiatives like SkillIndia’s Life Cycle of Training partner & Training Centre can be undertaken. This initiative streamlines the quality assured process that training partners and training centres need to meet, making it easier for students to opt for quality education and training.
Organisations often seek to improve the calibre of their workforce through training. To cater to organisations that want to invest in upskilling their people, QCI’s Training and Capacity Building program (TCB) has a lot to offer. It synergises training, awareness workshops, capacity building activities at the national and international level and makes it possible to coordinate such activities centrally, and in a structured manner. It caters to a wide variety of domains like quality management, healthcare, manufacturing, environment, food safety, education, project management etc.
Moreover, it imparts training through modes like classroom training, virtual training, webinars and eLearning – making it possible for learners with different learning styles, levels of access and needs to find courses that work for them. It also works closely with organisations on their particular training needs.
With India’s high mobile and internet penetration, imparting high quality training and education through online learning portals opens up huge avenues for people as well as businesses situated away from the metros. Here too, QCI has made the first move with eQuest, an online learning portal designed to help Indian professionals strengthen their skills and knowledge, and thus, improve their chances of advancing up the career ladder. The courses run the gamut from agriculture, education, environmental, healthcare, laboratory, quality, technology, and general courses.
What’s more, some courses cater specifically to the MSME sector, which greatly reduces the burden on MSMEs to come up with their own training programs and training delivery mechanisms. Not only is this cost effective, but also helps them improve the quality of their workforce, and thus, the quality of their output.
Conclusion
The next few years are going to be pivotal to India’s economic future. For us to reach our target of a $5 Trillion economy and beyond, for Make In India to succeed, and for India to gain economic Atmanirbharta, the common denominator is the quality of our human capital. If we don’t train and educate our people according to the needs of the industry, we will hit a ceiling. An unnecessary one, given that the problem has several solutions.
The QCI, true to its word, is creating the foundations of quality, trust and reliability, which then enables ambitious programs like Skill India to succeed. The same ecosystem is used by the corporate and education sectors to train the next generation of high skill, high ownership employees and entrepreneurs, who will usher in a wave of innovation, growth and entrepreneurial excellence.
This is how we build a nation: the foundation upwards. Gunvatta se Atmanirbharta isn’t a slogan, but a promise. By making high quality education and training available to an increasing number of our youth, we will make it inevitable that India emerges as the world’s next economic powerhouse.
This is a partnered post.
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