Education and skill development are complementary; need to develop soft skills

FROM - http://indiaeducationdiary.in

New Delhi: "Skills for the Future", a TV debate held at the India Economic Summit, addressed the crucial issue of how India can harness its potential through skill development. The Summit has been jointly organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the World Economic Forum. 

The session concentrated on issues of vocational training, employability and job shortages. Dilip Chenoy, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director National Skill Development Corporation, talked about building a model which incorporates NGOs, the Government and the Industry under one framework to deal with challenges that India faces with regards to skill development. He said that, "The vocational space in India is unregulated and it provides a great opportunity for investment". Mr. Chenoy emphasized that the very reason for the establishment of NSDC was to promote skill development by catalyzing the creation of large, for-profit vocational institutions by providing viability gap funding.

During the course of the discussion, Anand Sudarshan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Manipal Education, talked about how education and skill development are complementary to achieve productive manpower. He explained that in India, people who are completing their graduation need not be skilled workers. In order to have a pool of productive talent, there is a need to connect education with skill development. For skill development, Mr Sudarshan said, three important factors need to be kept in mind namely- policy impetus, entrepreneurial energy and a friendly eco system which provides incentives to students to acquire skills. He also said that in order to pave India's way towards becoming an engine of human capital, the Government needs to step back and allow industry to work under an umbrella of regulations.

In the session, Reuben Abraham, Executive Director, Centre for Emerging Markets Solutions, Indian School of Business, said that, "the line between demographic dividend and demographic nightmare is very thin and India is walking that line". In this regard, he said the implications of demographic nightmare need to be considered seriously and on an urgent basis. He further went on to talk about urbanization and the increasing trend of rural-urban migration. From a policy perspective, he said there is a need for drastic changes in labor laws so that the manufacturing sector can absorb the surplus labor from the agriculture sector.

Regarding the demand-supply mismatch of workers and the mismatch between education and jobs, John Hewko, General Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, Rotary International, USA, said that Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) can play a vital role in addressing the issue. He highlighted a pertinent fact that NGOs have extensive reach to small and medium sized cities. In addition, he said, numerous projects at the grass root levels are undertaken by NGOs. Although small individually, as a group NGOs contribute immensely to society. Keeping these vital characteristics of NGOs in mind, he said that there is a need to work out a model, whereby the Government and NGOs work together to bridge the gap in skills.

The panelists also included Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Executive Director, Corporate and Legal Affairs, member of the Board, Tesco, UK. According to her, given the challenge India faces; there is a need for high level commitment to deal with the current problem. She also highlighted that India's education system is very academic oriented and soft skills like leadership, enterprise, team work and communication are lacking. It is essential to find a model that incorporates these softer skills into the curriculum, said Ms Rolfe. She took the opportunity to congratulate the Government of India for bringing vocational training to the educational curriculum.

Rajendra Joshi, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Empower Pragati Vocational and Staffing, a social entrepreneur, talked about the need for social transformation through large scale social awareness to remove the public stigma attached to doing 'blue collared' jobs. He elaborated that certain sections of society need to understand that sending their children for vocational training will make a greater impact than formal education. Mr. Joshi also suggested that Industry can play an important role in bridging the demand-supply gap in skills. However, the government needs to provide incentives such as tax breaks for on-the-job training. He addressed a critical issue regarding the trade off between earning income and acquiring skills, elaborating that a construction worker has to work everyday to earn his income. Hence, Mr. Joshi suggested that a model that not only trains workers but also provides wages, something on the line of the apprenticeship model needs to be looked at in India.

Simon Cooper, President and Managing Director, Asia Pacific,Mariott International, Hong Kong, talked about the great potential that tourism industry in India has in terms of foreign exchange as well as employment. He stressed that the tourism industry employs a large number of unskilled workers, however there is a need to build infrastructure for the tourism industry to tap into the great potential this sector offers.