As we march towards the milestone of Viksit Bharat@2047, the critical question is not just how much we grow, but how developed our Human Capital can sustain and drive that growth. We need to empower over a billion individuals and build a society where Competence is valued over Credentials and every Citizen has the Tools to Adapt, the Dignity to Work and the Freedom to Innovate. An Annual Survey of Education Report indicates that at age 14, more than 95% of the age group was enrolled in a School, which drops down to 67.4% at the age of 18. The dropouts are to support the family income. We need to support such needy families through some Government Scheme to prevent the Drop Outs and can be ensured by Effective Implementation. For Younger Age groups, strengthening Foundational Learning like Reading and arithmetic is the need of the hour. Students have become strong digitally, in terms of browsing the internet for basic information and sharing through smartphones. But some are not aware that the Book is far above the Internet. Moreover, the focus is more on exam-taking skills, which we need to change to Understanding, Learning, applying (in Reality), and then to Examination, an ULAE Model. Once we close the gap in Preparedness, we can talk of Opportunity.
Youth aspirations are highly skewed towards Government Jobs and in known professions like Military, Teaching, Medicine, Engineering, Accountancy and Business Management. But there can be other Skill Based Professions too, the importance of which students are not aware. And the Right Path from School to Graduation to post-graduation, students do not know how to navigate. The necessity of building domain knowledge and Linked Upskilling, very few know and are lucky to get good guides to draw the Learning Path for them. New opportunities in Environment, Renewable Energy, Sports, Luxury and Stress Management are being created, but not many understand the value of the same, and for some, Higher Education is just unaffordable. Also, there has to be a link between “Learning for School”, “Learning for Work” and “Learning for Life”, to become fully Employable and shine in a Market Economy. To quote Alvin Toffler, “ The illiterate of the 21st century will be those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn”. According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey, formally vocationally trained individuals accounted for only 3.7% of the workforce in 2022-23. The India Skills Report places Youth Employability at just over 51%. Jobs now require knowing Digital Applications, problem-solving ability, and Continuous Learning. India adds close to a crore people in Workforce every year. A strong Skilling System is a must to ensure this Scale translates into Productivity and shared Prosperity.
The launch of Skill India Mission in 2015 marked a clear shift in approach, placing Skill Development at the centre of Economic Planning. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana has played an important role in scaling training efforts. Recent iterations have focused on emerging sectors like Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Quantum Computing, etc. Apprenticeship programmes have also gained traction. All said and done, we need to scale up in Quantity, quality, and inclusivity; that is, induct more Women in these programs. Basically, the task today is to translate Efforts into outcomes, and then only we can become truly Viksit and ensure the fruits of Economic Growth trickle down to the bottom of the Economy.