"Skill is the unified force of experience, intellect and passion in their operation."
--John Ruskin
Mere literacy can't make a person employable; skills are equally important to make a person a valuable asset for a country. Skills can be of various kinds: technical skills, business skills, interpersonal skills, and many more. Skills make the youth more valuable, competent, efficient and knowledgeable in the market economy.
Skill development refers to the identification of skill gaps in the population and to enhance the existing skills of the working age population in a country. This can be done through various schemes and policies of the government, civil societies, and even by private institutions. Skill development is important in the overall development of a student, to increase employability, reduce poverty, increase investment in the economy, achieve high productivity etc.
The development of a country depends on the percentage of skilled person present in the working age population of that country. The more skilled population of a country, the more developed that country would be. For instance, countries like the USA and South Korea are among the most developed countries in the world because 58% and 96% of their workforce is skilled respectively. The working age population in developing and less developed countries lack the basic skills required to get quality jobs that will further make them incapable to work to their fullest capacity. On the other hand the workforce of higher-income countries possesses all the necessary skills required to utilize their full productive potential so that they can contribute to enhancing the economy of their country.
According to World Bank Calculations, more than 2 billion working age adults are not equipped with the most essential literacy skills required by employers. Among them 420 million people are young adults under the age of 25 around the world. In India, only 4.69% workforce is skilled, which is extremely low compared to 24% in China, 52% in USA, 68% in UK, 80% in Japan. India lags far behind in up skilling the youth of the country. Reports indicate that among 1.5 crore job seekers every year only 10% receives some kind of skill training (2% with formal training and 8% with informal training.
In 2020, Coursera released their first annual report on global skill assessment that benchmarks 60 countries and 10 industries for business, technology and data science skills. In the report, countries and industries were grouped into four categories: Cutting-edge (Rank 1-15), Competitive (16-30), Emerging (31-45) and Lagging (46-60).
The top ranks were dominated by European countries repeatedly. The top 3 ranks in all skills are represented in the below table:
India’s place in the GLOBAL INDEX REPORT is alarming and points to the need for more comprehensive policies and programs to upskill the working force of the country. India is placed at 51st, 34th and 40th position in Data science, Business and IT skills respectively. It shows that India is lagging behind the other countries in the basic skills that the whole workforce should acquire.
Global Index Report shows that most of the skilled workforce of the world is concentrated in the European countries, North America and a few countries of Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. European countries make up 80% of the best-performing countries in Business, Technology and Data Science. Whereas 66% of the world population is living in lagging and emerging countries which indicates a critical need to upskill this proportion of global workforce. India is one of those countries where more than 95% workforce is unskilled.
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| SOURCE:- UNSPLASH BY- MARVIN MEYER |
So why are India and other low and middle-income countries lagging behind in the Global Skill Index? Some of the reasons can be summed up as follows:-
Historically deprived ( Colonization)
These low-middle income countries were the colonies of the Western European countries that offered low-skilled labor to the developed world. Also, the new technology and industrial revolution first happened in Western world and later in these colonies.
Proactive approach
The overall dominance of the European countries in every kind of skill is due to its proactive approach to upskilling, advocacy of training and momentum to make learning based on the job. But low- middle income countries are just responding to it as a problem solving issue and not taking proactive measures to up skill the youth of the country.
Insufficient resources
Poor and Developing countries don't have sufficient resources to invest in education, health infrastructure and Skill development programs. This is also an important reason for lagging behind in basic skills.
Lack of awareness
Lack of awareness in working-age population about the role and importance of skills in the development of the country.
Non-implementation or poor implementation of existing Skill development programs.
In some countries, there are Skill development programs, but governments are not able to implement them due to lack of funds or proper plans to implement them. In India, there are many Skill development programs such as Skill India and Pradhaan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). Though 1.04 crore people benefited from the PMKVY program in India, the implementation of this program in rural areas of the country is very low. The most unskilled person in India lives in rural parts of the country and their skill development is essential to boost the productivity of the country.
Way Forward:
Here are some suggestions that emerging or lagged countries, in particular India, can do to increase the proportion of skilled workforce:
Proper implementation of existing policies is as necessary as making another new policy so that more and more people can get the advantage of certain policies.
Equal access to education in all parts of country is very essential to attain high proportion of skilled workforce. Most of the educated and skilled population in India is concentrated in urban or semi-urban areas. But it is equally essential to focus on education and skill development of the youth in rural areas too.
Increase awareness among youth so that one can make an informed choice about the programme he/she wishes to pursue through counselling. Also enlighten the youth of rural areas about such programs of skill development so that they can also pursue some kind of skill training.
Need to make more comprehensive programs so that all the sections of the society including women, poor, and lower-middle class people can be benefit from these.
Women empowerment is not merely to improve the condition of women but it will also contribute in making the society better than ever before in every segment. Most of the women workforce in India is uneducated or unskilled. Therefore by skilling women, the proportion of skilled workforce will increase. However there is a need for separate policy formulation and implementation for skill development in women.
Conclusion:
With the changing economic pattern and in the age of Covid-19 pandemic which has brought economic progress to a standstill, skilled workforce is the most important tool for the development of any country. it's also an index for a better life in a particular country. India is still lagging behind in skill development in the world. By up skilling the youth of the country, we can reduce the poverty and can attain a better life style for the people that will contribute to the economy of our country, helping it to become one of the biggest economies in the world. Therefore, a robust system should be put in place in which skill based training is accessible for all and is linked with placement facilities, linking trainee with Industries/Employers, to ensure we utilize the full potential promised by our demographic advantage.
REFERENCES
https://greycaps.com/theteacher/Community/Skill-Development
https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/skillsdevelopment
https://www.coursera.org/gsi/executive-summary
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