Skill development in India: The distance to be covered

Abstract

Skill development : Definition:- According to Edwin B. Flippo (1984), “It is the act of increasing the knowledge and skills of an employee for doing a particular job”. According to Michael Armstrong (2006), “It is the systematic development of the knowledge, attitudes and skills required by an individual to perform adequately a given task or job.” Issues in Skill Development:- 1. Scalability : The Skill development program of India aims to train 500 million workforce by 20122. However this would require that the year-on-year training capacity would have to rise to nearly 40–50 million incrementally over the next 8 years for India. 2. Financial: The lack of a universal skill loan product is another big hindrance. The emphasis on collaterals and guarantees by the banks prevent the poor and needy people to pursue the skill development programs. 3. Perceptional:There exists a negative perception associated with skill development. Unlike European countries, in India people have a misplaced notion that skilltraining courses are only meant for those who could not make it in the formal education system. Lack of prestige has resulted in huge skills gap in diverse spheres, ranging from plumbers and electricians, to nurses and teachers. 4. Quality : Whilst many of the recent major government training schemes have a placement model the quality of these placements are doubtful. The training services are criticized for the quality of employment they make the trainee suitable for. 5. Highly fractured and incoherent government policies existing in parallel . 6. Inefficient implementation of Apprenticeship Act : While the Indian apprenticeship system is well established and supported by legislative and administrative arrangements that span several decades, by international standards, it is underutilized, with inadequate incentives for employers, and insufficient structure and resources to link apprenticeships with career and vocational guidance services to the extent they exist. 7. Weak assessment of priority skill development areas: There is inadequate interaction with industries to assess the current demand for various skills. Most of the vocational courses are in the manufacturing sector, only a few being in the rapidly expanding services sector. There is a need to identify and flag vocations that have labour market demand. 8. MGNREGA: The implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act, have had the impact of making rural people stay away from skill development initiatives.