Skill Development scenario in India
The 5th largest economy in the world, India, with over 54% of its population being under 25 years of age, is one of the youngest economies in the world. Second only to China, India has the largest workforce in the world. However, the formal skilled workforce contributes to only 2% of the total workforce, as compared to 80% in Japan, and 96% in South Korea.
To effectively utilize our workforce, the Government has launched various schemes such as "Skill India" programme as well as the "Make in India" initiative. In spite of the various attempts made by the central and state governments, India being a huge country and with a very high population, faces a lot of challenges in every aspect, including skilling.
Here are some of the major challenges that our country is facing today:
1. India by 2022 will face dearth of 500 million skilled workforce across all the skilled sectors and the predicted gap in manufacturing alone is 90 million - this gap also shows that there is a huge potential for skill development in this field. Skill development agencies and institutes must try provide the necessary skills required to bridge this gap.
2. A concrete long term progressive strategy must be in alignment irrespective of any political or economic shifts in the country.
3. Non-compatibility of skills to industry needs: There is a huge gap between the skills we possess, and the skills that the industry needs today. While India is failing to create enough job opportunities on one hand, professionals entering the job market are also lacking the in-demand skills. The need of the hour now is up-skilling with new industry requirements such as AI and ML, 3-D Printing, Robotics, Automation and Data Analytics and most importantly, Human Skills.
4. Government and private players must respond swiftly by creating infrastructure and learning environment to train the future workforce, else, short term threat to employment will lead to long term effects.
5. Quality over quantity is yet another major concern for the current job market requirement
6. The urban social divide:Many talented youth in rural areas do not enjoy the same privileges and opportunities as their counterparts in urban areas. In response, the government has now initiated a program called "Rural Skill India" to standardize training methods in across India.
Human Skills are the Future Skills
1. Globally with the advancements of technology and rapid changes taking place, it is highly essential for individuals to possess essential skills, and corporates to establish a robust skilled workforce to thrive during times of uncertainty and ambiguity in the global business environment.
2. Although the country shifts towards technological advancements and is undergoing automation in various sectors, technology may not replace humans in all cases.
3. Human Skills will stand stronger as a competitive advantage in times of machine intelligence; Technical Skills are Quantitative and Human Skills are Qualitative
4. Future jobs will need skilled workforce to deeply inculcate and utilize creativity, collaboration, complex communications, and the ability to thrive in diverse environments.
In a nutshell, skilling is the way to make the best use of the untapped youth energy of our country. We at Infimind Insititute believe in a holistic approach, and offer various skilled courses such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Digital Marketing, Hospitality Management, IELTS, etc. All our courses are job oriented. We try to bridge the gap between the job market's demand and supply by providing on-the-job training or practical exposure during the course of the programme, and also assure placements to candidates who successfully complete our courses.