MEANING OF SKILL DEVELOPMENT

MEANING OF SKILL DEVELOPMENT  ,  RACE IAS : Best IAS Coaching in Kanpur , Daily Current Affairs 

Mains Examination: General Studies 3

(Economy-Skill Development)

Reference:

  • At present, majority of the population of India is living through traditional livelihood activities.
  • Thirty percent of highly educated people in India are unemployed. 90% of workers have very low productivity
  • There is a need to understand the new national education policy and skill development in the context of many socio-economic problems of the country including poverty and unemployment.

What is skill development?

  • Skill development is generally used to refer to productive abilities acquired through all levels of learning and training in formal, non-formal, informal and on-the-job settings.

Importance of Skill Development:

  • Skill development contributes to socio-economic development through structural change by making labor competitive and more productive.
  • It not only creates more and better jobs by increasing productivity, but also improves the standard of living of the people.
  • It enables and keeps individuals to engage fully and productively in livelihoods.
  • It provides an opportunity to adapt these capabilities to meet the changing demands and opportunities of the economy and labor market.

Current status of labor force in India:

  • 50 percent of the country's workforce is in rural employment and more than 90 percent of workers are in the unorganized sector, which has low productivity.
  • Nearly two-thirds of India's population is in the working age group of 15 to 59 years and 54 percent of the population is below 25 years.
  • According to the 'Skill India Report 2018', the main reason for India's demographic dividend is that the average age of the population will remain below 29 years for the next six years.
  • According to the UNICEF report of the year 2019, by 2030, about 47 percent of Indian youth will lack the education and skills necessary for employment, which will affect employment.
  • The International Labor Organization estimates that by 2030 there will be a skill gap of around 30 million, which will affect India's national income.
  • In the next few years, the labor force is estimated to increase by about 2 percent ie 70 lakhs.

Challenges Before Skill Development in the country:

  • Lack of Access: Lack of access to skill development and vocational training by all in the country is a serious challenge.
  • Lack of formal education: Many students are deprived of formal education, which affects their earning potential for life.
  • Abandonment of traditional Indian occupations: Traditional Indian occupations provided ample opportunities for entrepreneurship and livelihood due to generation to generation skill transfer. But with time there has been a decline in traditional occupations and a change in the nature of opportunities.
  • School vocational education took a back seat in independent India due to the emphasis on higher professional institutions in the Mahalanobis model rather than the Gandhian model of economic development.
  • Increased separation between education and skill development, individual advancement linked to higher education, not skill development. As a result today, only two percent of professional business workers are formally skilled.

Major Initiatives of Government of India for Skill Development:

  • Efforts are on to coordinate education and skills through creation of National Skill Development Corporation, National Skill Development Agency, National Skill Qualification Framework and establishment of Sector Skill Councils along with National Skill Policy 2009 for skill development.
  • The National Skills Qualifications Framework integrates education and skill development by providing mobility to formal and vocational education.
  • The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship coordinates the skill development programmes.
  • Make in India and Skill India programs strengthen the inter-linkages of education and skill development, increase youth interest in formal skills and recognize skill certification along with educational qualification.
  • Through skill development programs of about 20 ministries and departments, a skilled workforce is being created in the country.

National Education Policy, 2020

  • The strategy emphasizes broad cognitive skills, which include the ability to learn, understand and apply complex ideas through experience and reasoning.
  • Technical skill consists of the knowledge and expertise required to perform a specific job. Digital skills provide the ability to access, manage, communicate, understand, evaluate and adopt all other skills.
  • The NEP will focus on out-of-the-box thinking and decision-making with creative and critical thinking instead of rote learning. With a multidisciplinary approach, students will be able to choose courses according to their needs.
  • Skill development courses in education as per the needs of NEP industries, will prove to be instrumental in making Indian youth skilled and self-reliant.
  • By integrating skill development and vocational education into the education system, NEP will not only create manpower according to the needs of industries, but will also enhance the quality of education.
  • The purpose of integrating vocational education with school education is to make youth self-reliant through skill development while making education job-oriented.
  • In this, practical training will be arranged in carpentry, plumbing, electrician, horticulture, pottery, embroidery-weaving etc. for traditional skill development.
  • By the year 2025, there is a target to provide vocational skills to fifty percent students.

National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) Quality Assurance

  • It provides a national level integrated education and competency based skill framework.
  • Further it provides horizontal and vertical integration ie multiple opportunities in vocational education and training, general education and technical education as well as link one to another skill development level.

National Credit Framework (NCRF)

  • It is a document to make skill development an integral part of the education system by formalizing the credit accumulation and transfer system at the national level.
  • It will ensure quality education opportunities with skill development by integrating general education and vocational education.
  • NCRF is a framework for comprehensive, multidisciplinary, holistic education, which will offer need-based curriculum along with options for subjects and their creative combinations.
  • NCRF focuses on skill development by giving equal importance to different areas of learning. The provision of credit earning for skill training in higher education will promote apprenticeship and employment by raising the skill level of the workforce, provide skilled workforce for regional development.

Way Forward :

  • If large population is to be brought out of poverty and unemployment, then skill development will have to be done according to the pattern of emerging employment sectors.
  • The earlier education system in India did not guarantee livelihood. The skills gap exists at all levels. That is why more than 30 percent of highly educated youth are unemployed. Shortage of skilled labor is a constraint faced by employers, which affects their ability to innovate. India needs skilled human resource who can act as a catalyst for innovation and growth.
  • Vocational courses should be recognized at par with general courses by the State Governments.
  • The National Education Policy needs to lay emphasis not only on skill development but also on skill based employment opportunities to make people progressive.

Conclusion:

  • NEP 2020 will end the separation between education and skill development. The day is not far when the youth of India, through skill development and vocational, employable education, will not become livelihood seekers, but providers. For this, India will have to lay emphasis not only on skill development but also on skill based employment opportunities.
  • Skill development as per the needs of industries can get rid of the crisis of educated unemployment. It is absolutely true that the problems of rural unemployment and unorganized sector workers including poverty in India can be solved only by skill development.

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Mains Exam Question

Review the major initiatives of the government to address the challenges related to skill development in India at present.