We are perhaps one of the youngest countries in the world in terms of workforce. We have our majority of the workforce in the age bracket of 15-50 sadly only 2% of this raw energy is ever going to be productive. The reason, that’s the number of people who have undergone skills development program in the country. Our readers might wonder why we time again highlight the same fact. We do it because its a cause of grave concern and it should be addressed with immediate effect.
There should be a connection between skills development and career
Skills development programs should not only focus on immediate vocational training but also on long term career avenues for those undergoing it.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT
Skill building can be seen as a means to enhance the effectiveness and augmentation of labor to overall production. It is an essential part to push the production possibility front line outward and to take the growth rate of the economy to the next level. Skill development could also be seen as a means to allow the individual and improve their social recognition.
EMPLOYABILITY FACTOR!
Employability of the growing young demography is an important factor in the economic development of the country. India is a country with the largest youth workforce. They are raw energy and need to be gainfully engaged unless they find some other negative avenues to spend their energies.
It is vital because:
- More and more, job roles are requiring formal training qualifications either because of legislative requirements or to meet the requirements of specific employers
- Developing your skills through further training provides significant benefits in achieving greater career aims
- Increase employment opportunities
- Without a doubt, constant training provides more avenues and freedom to choose. (Today, even entry-level roles in many industries require base level qualifications. By completing a training course, your employment opportunities become wider.)
- Developing a career in a chosen field is something many of us aspire to. Experience alone, in many cases, does not suffice when employers are seeking to promote their staff. By undertaking further training, the opportunity to develop your career is enhanced
- Personal growth leading to career growth, undoubtedly
- Training not only provides you with the skills in a particular area. By undertaking further training you build your networking, time management, communication and negotiation skills
- Increase your knowledge and understanding of your local industry
- Inter skills trainers are experts in their fields – they are closely connected within their industry. This provides you with local industry knowledge to supplement your growing skills.
(source: IIHT)
The solution
If we see holistically, a hint of soft skills training along with proper vocational/technical skills development can provide for both employment and a long term career. Here are the things which can be done to improve the situation.
- There is a critical need to take a look at the impact of the current education system and link it with skill development courses and programs. Blending skill development with the education system is required. We need to change the way we educate our masses.
- While this is on the card – concerns are being expressed on the employability of the graduates who come out. This needs to be addressed. The quality of training needs to be of the industry standards. The fresh graduate should be market ready.
- The quality of training needs to be of aligned with global skills demand without which there is no real profit from the efforts made. Without quality, achieving quantitative targets is never possible.
According to a report of ‘Talent Sprint’, in 2020 only 27 percent of the 7,50,00,000 fresh graduates would be employable. If out of the total number of graduates being churned out every year only 20-25 percent are employable then it’s a huge waste of human and financial resources.
It’s time to rethink our training strategies.
