HYDERABAD: There is a huge gap between the number of youth in search of jobs and the number of youth being trained under various skills training programmes. According to experts, every year, 50 lakh students graduate in various disciplines but a majority of them are in need of training to become employable. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship estimates that by 2022, around 400 million youth will need skills training. “Under the overall Skill India Mission, almost 1.04 core people were trained in 2015-16 excluding youths trained directly by the corporate sector and state governments. To bridge the gap in the availability of skilled youths, scaling up of skill development programmes is needed and NSDC has been adopting multi-pronged approach to bridge the gap,” said Jayant Krishna, executive director and chief operating officer of NSDC.
NSDC, the designated agency for monitoring the skill development programmes in the country, administers Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana initiated for skilling and funds and extends soft loans for institutions involved in skill development. NSDC is also planning to impart skill development training through the digital mode in a big way to scale up skilling programmes.
“Right now, we are able to skill only 10-20 per cent of the youth who are in need of skilling. Scaling is the need of the hour in skilling and introducing online training, adopting digital platforms for skilling can address this problem. The shortage of qualified trainers is also a major problem and through online training, this problem can be addressed as one trainer can teach any number of youth through online training,” said Santanu Paul, chief executive officer of Talent Sprint. Talent Sprint has a smart campus which trains youth through digital platforms using technology.
Lack of qualified workforce is a major problem plaguing industries across sectors even affecting production. As a result, even companies are focusing on skill development.
“About 50 per cent of India’s population is below 25 years and by 2020, the average age of India’s population will be 29 years. If jobs are not provided for these youth, the demographic dividend will turn into a night mare. Skilling is needed for these youth to be placed in jobs and we are urging industries to take up skill development training to address this gap,” pointed out J S R K Prasad, vice-chairman, CII’s AP chapter.