Is it possible to Skill India at Scale? Consider a career in skilling.
The constant debate in education is the trade-off between quality and quantity. Given the enormity of our population and the severity of the educational crisis, solving the problem at scale seems daunting. Specifically, employability training is becoming crucial as India gears up to have productive youth. With 57% of the population under 30, ~30,000 colleges and over 5 million students graduating each year, the numbers are massive.
There are several solutions and bodies in the pipeline within our country that are working to help solve the employability crisis at scale. How can you get involved, and what are the initiatives out there?
- United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
The UNDP is actively involved with solving the employability crisis. One notable example, Project Disha is a partnership between India Development Foundation, UNDP and Xyntéo, supported by IKEA Foundation, aimed at supporting one million underprivileged women in India learn marketable skills and connect them with income opportunities! The project strives to enable women to become economically self-sufficient so that they, their families and future generations can have better opportunities in life. Initiatives such as these allow philanthropic funds to be allocated to developmental sectors and create change!
- Government initiatives
The NSDC is a public private partnership in India under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. It aims to promote skill development by providing funds to to build scalable, for-profit vocational training initiatives. NSDC acts as a catalyst in skill development by providing funding to enterprises, companies and organisations that provide skill training. Skill India is a campaign launched by the Indian government which aims to create opportunities for the youth in India. Similarly, Make in India is another campaign launched by the National government which aims to attract capital and technological investment in India, thereby increasing employability opportunities for the youth of India.
- Online solutions
Through various platforms found online, education and employment can go hand in hand. There are various online platforms which provide training and industry connect to students. The challenge with online and app based solutions is completion rates, willingness to pay and quality and effectiveness of the training platforms. Students prefer live, personalized learning to canned videos and content they can get free on portals such as Youtube, but providing live, personalized sessions is expensive.
- Start-ups in employability assessment and training
Organizations such as Aspiring Minds, Cocubes, Wheebox are working to assess employability of candidates to highlight the skill gap and match relevant profiles to their corporate partners. Organizations such as Talerang collaborate with corporates and colleges to bridge the gap for students directly, both online and offline. The advantage of the private sector is the ability to move quickly. However, partnerships with the Government and UNDP provide opportunities for scale to these private sector companies.
Despite all these different efforts, the goal of skilling hundreds of millions of people in the near future seems a distant reality. If you want to make a difference to India, consider getting involved with the skilling space. Provide insights on how to solve this issue and join an organization or initiative, whether full-time or part-time to solve the gap. Bridging this gap at scale will require millions of bright young people driving the solution! With the right talent involved, the first step to achieving scale will be achieved!
Link to the published article: http://bit.ly/2jXtM6C
