Lack of quality
trainers impending India’s skill mission
India needs to upgrade education curricula,
revamp vocational training programmes and improve digital skills, says World
Economic Forum
New Delhi: The World
Economic Forum’s (WEF’s) Global Manufacturing Index puts India on the 30th
position, listing human capital and sustainable resources as the two key
challenges for the country.
India needs
to raise the capabilities of its relatively young and fast-growing labour
force, noted WEF. For this, it said, the country needs to upgrade education
curricula, revamp vocational training programmes and improve digital skills.
The central
government has already begun the process of training 10 million potential
jobseekers by 2020 under its Skill India Mission, but the dearth of quality
trainers, inadequacies in training programmes and high dropout rates remain
hurdles to skill development.
Skill
development has found favour with corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives,
but companies point to the shortage of experienced skilled trainers. “The
number of trainers that exist in the area of skill development is
inappropriate,” says Venkat Garimella, CSR head at Schneider Electric India,
which runs over 267 skill training centres across the country as part of its
CSR activities.
According to
Soumitro Chakraborty, chief executive of Delhi-based consulting firm
Fiinovation (Innovative Financial Advisors Pvt. Ltd), India does not have
enough skilling institutions, and the existing ones have poor quality of
programmes. “Multiplicity and time consumption of certification processes,
non-existence of localized certification modules, lack of support both from
private and public sector as far as infrastructure of these skill development
institutions are concerned are some of the many other areas of intervention,”
he says.
Agrees
Ranjit Singh, general manager (CSR and sustainability) at Maruti Suzuki India
Ltd. Despite the support of government and other partners, availability of
skilled trainers remains a challenge for the auto maker, he said. “Upskilling
10 million individuals in diverse fields is not an easy task; it needs constant
deliberation and improvements at each step,” he added.
Given the
shortage of trainers, companies are adopting innovative approaches to skill
development, training the trainers, utilizing the entity’s own manpower and
pooling resources.
For
instance, Schneider Electric runs its CSR activities in skill training
programmes in collaboration with 33 firms. At the GMR Varalakshmi Centre for
Empowerment and Livelihoods in Delhi, it partners with companies such as GMR
Group and Voltas Ltd, for market-oriented courses such as escalator and
elevator operations and maintenance to students from weaker sections or having
limited educational qualifications. Schneider Electric employs retired staffers
as trainers.
Maruti
Suzuki is partnering 143 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) to improve
governance, upgrade infrastructure and equipment, and impart soft skills to
students and teachers. The company has set up automobile skill enhancement
centres at 63 ITIs in tie-ups. It spent about Rs17 crore in FY17 on skill
development initiatives.
ICICI Bank
Ltd’s philanthropic arm ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth is running 24
urban and 12 rural centres, where it imparts training in technical and
non-technical skills like office administration, retail sales, pump and motor
repair. Unlike others, the lender feels there is no “insurmountable challenge”
in the country’s skill development space, and that there are enough trainers.
“In fact, the skill training initiatives provide job opportunity to trainers,”
says N.S. Kannan, executive director at ICICI Bank. The lender has spent about
Rs75 crore on skill programmes in FY17.
While
companies say it is tough to find the right non-profits with adequate
infrastructure, non-profits that are granted skill training projects, on the
other hand, face challenges when it comes to implementation.
Neelam
Gupta, founder and chief executive at non-profit AROH Foundation, which works
on community and women empowerment, says funding to NGOs is often delayed or
stopped abruptly, quality trainers are hard to retain, and selection of the
right beneficiary remains a challenging task. She notes that the dropout rates
among youths who have undergone skill training is quite high as beneficiaries
from remote areas find it hard to live in cities, often because of cultural
problems. “Lack of research on appropriate skill-sets is required by the industry,
while demand projection studies and forecasts are not available,” says Gupta.
There is
also a belief that some of the targets of skill development initiatives are
“misplaced”. “It is only going to people who can afford it anyway. We are
pushing a numbers game and that’s where we are getting the wrong people in the
programmes,” explains Meenakshi Nayar, founder of NGO ETASHA Society that
provides vocational skill training to youth from disadvantaged communities.
Although
companies and NGOs are faced with a multi-faceted challenge in their skill
training programmes, there is a strong belief that a greater synergy between
the corporate sector, non-profits and government may resolve these impending
issues of the country’ skill mission. “Moreover, there’s a strategic
contribution to capacity building and community development through partnering
with training partners, NGOs and other organizations,” says S.V. Nathan,
partner and chief talent officer at Deloitte India. Businesses, he adds, play a
crucial role in accomplishing the national agenda for skilling India but calls
for increased investment for this purpose.
Source | Mint – The Wall Street Journal | 16th February 2018
Regards
Prof. Pralhad Jadhav
Master of Library &
Information Science (NET Qualified)
Senior Manager @ Knowledge
Repository
Khaitan & Co
Twitter Handle | @Pralhad161978
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