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In 1962, four days before the signing of the Manpower Development and Training Act, President John

F. Kennedy, told US legislators that, “large scale unemployment during a recession is bad enough, but large scale unemployment during a period of prosperity would be intolerable.” In the 1950s and 60s, America was faced with the challenge of a young population which was out of work because of large scale automation and rapid technological changes. Workers were being forced to accept jobs far below their level of training or even outside their area of expertise just to provide for their families. More than half a century later, India faces a similar growth challenge – a large young population, which is unskilled, unemployed and therefore unable to participate effectively in the growth process.

In 2007, when Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, in his Independence Day speech highlighted the urgency of creating a skilled India, he articulated the need of the silent masses in the country, and brought skills development and vocational training to the centre stage of policy making. The government is aspiring for 8per cent growth rate in GDP, expansion and diversification are the buzz words in Industry and organizations across sectors are working hard to penetrate into Tier 1, 2 cities as well as exporting their goods and services internationally.

It is opportune to ask-where is the skilled, trained, certified manpower that will convert these ambitious plans into reality?

A number of initiatives have been taken in the last few years. For example, the number of Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) have increased from 5,114 to 9,447 in 2011-12; 28 joint venture companies have

Creating a Skills RevolutionPooja Gianchandani*

been formed with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) that will provide skill based training to over 80 million people in the next 10 years; and vocationalisation of education is being picked up in schools through revision of curriculum and framework. But multiple challenges - geographic, economic and social – remain which need to be addressed to ensure people participate in these skill building initiatives.

There are other positive signs-a robust national skills development policy, several government and pri-vate initiatives, a sharpened focus on skills in the Union Budget, industry- led forums, bilateral and multilateral dialogues, formation of NSDC, newer capacities and a vision to skill 500 million by 2022.

The larger question is: Are we doing enough to reap the benefits of the much talked about demographic dividend?

Skills by choice not chance

Skill Development, vocational education and training are often treated as poor cousins of the academic route. This is despite the fact that millions of Indian workers are employed as skilled manpower around the world. It is important to create an ecosystem which assigns dignity to vocational education. This will go a long way in addressing the current aspirational mismatch -everyone wants a qualification, but qualifications alone don’t lead to jobs - that the majority of our students go through. Unlike in the past, when a degree alone guaranteed job security, in this new generation, ‘employability’ is the key to securing a job. A massive campaign is thus required to ensure

that our youth, especially women take up vocational education and technical training as a career choice and not a chance.

The bigger challenge facing the skill development experts, not only in India, but across the world, is engaging the right stakeholders and inspiring people to acquire skills. If we do not bridge this demand-supply gap urgently we will not be able to realize the opportunities that our demographics present. Furthermore, it will widen the economic gap.

Skill development is not a quick fix solution. It works on the foundations of collaboration, convergence and coordination. In light of this, FICCI has taken the lead to “engage stakeholders, aggregate initiatives, and develop capacities to promote the skills for all vision”. FICCI recognizes that skill development is an important imperative for achieving India’s ambitious growth targets. It is committed to working with the stakeholders, especially the industry, government and academia to create sustainable and scalable skills propositions which will benefit the youth of the country from all sections of society. FICCI offers support and facilitation services through policy advocacy, industry engagement and international collaboration so that the young can acquire skills and meaningfully participate in the economy.

Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and the third President of the United States once said, “Every generation needs a new revolution”. This generation needs one too – this one needs skills, education and empowerment.

* Pooja Gianchandani is Director & Head, Skills Development, FICCI.

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them in discussions. We are devoting a lot of energy to this.

At an operational level we are working with the following: 1. the Government to articulate

policies2. the industry, helping it to

participate in skill development3. skills providers, assisting them in

ITI’s4. international organizations.

Because ‘skills for all’ is embedded in the value system of many countries, we are trying to introduce those best practices in India.

In recent times a common question that is being asked is whether too many players are deflecting the focus of the movement

In my opinion the movement is still at a very nascent stage. Before the Prime Minister gave a call for skilling 500 million Indians, it was the Government which was driving skills development, through its network of ITI’s. Then, various ministries got involved. Today, there are a number of private players who have joined the bandwagon, but we should not be discouraged by the presence of

too many players. It is only a matter of time before convergence emerges.

It is optimistic to think that every ministry, and every state will work according to one standard and each player will look into its own objectives.

What is required at this stage is not another organisation to oversee the movement but common standards and a vision. This can be done through the National Vocational Qualification Framework (NVQF), stipulating skill level, and integrating it with academic standards. The desired level of proficiency in skills will have to be defined by the industry, with the Sectoral Skills Councils articulating the needs.

Once this system is in place, we can expect a more formalised structure, with vocational skills training enjoying greater respect and acceptability in the society, since there will be scope for vertical mobility for those pursuing skills, and will allow learners to shift from vocational skills training to academics and vice versa.

*RCM Reddy is Chairman, FICCI Skills Development Forum and MD & CEO IL&FS Education and Skills.

‘Skills for All’ for inclusive growthRCM Reddy*

“It is only a matter of time before convergence emerges in the presence of too many players”, says Mr. RCM Reddy, Chairman FICCI Skills Development Forum and MD & CEO IL&FS Education and Skills

The need to provide skills to every individual is important as it helps make the

individual’s life more productive and the availability of a skilled workforce helps the society make significant progress. Currently in India the work of a carpenter or electrician is not viewed with much respect . In the West vocational schools are well established and are equipped with robust infrastructure to deliver the right kind of training to make their students highly employable.

So when we talk of ‘skills for all’, it serves the larger social objective of inclusive growth. It helps solve the problem of educated unemployment and the problem of school dropouts not getting any job. Educated unemployment is an important factor that needs to be addressed, because a very large segment of our population, despite getting educated, still finds it difficult to get meaningful employment.

‘Skills for all’ is a multiple stake-holder agenda, involving the skill seeker and his family, the skill provider, employer and policy makers. FICCI, as an industry organ-ization taking ahead its vision of acting as an aggregator, is bringing them on a common platform, develo-ping a common vision, and engaging

Release of the UKISF Report at the India UK JETCO bilateral at London on April 16, 2012 by Anand Sharma, Minister for Commerce, Industry and Textile India and Dr Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, UK.

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Fact # 1 – Supply Side

India has a population of 1.2 billion people which is expected to reach 1.48 billion by 2030.

India will be the largest contributor to the global workforce, with working-age population (15-59) likely to swell from 749 million to 962 million from 2010 to 2030. By 2020, the average age in India will be only 29 years, compared with 37 in China and the United States, 45 in Western Europe, and 48 in Japan. Moreover, 70 percent of Indians will be of working age in 2025, up from 61 percent currently.

Fact # 2- Demand Side

Industry sectors across the board are facing shortage of skilled talent. Here’s how the demand for skilled workforce looks across a few industry sectors: BFSI (5 million), Manufacturing (10 million), Logistics & Supply Chain Management (10 million), Retail (5 million), Hospitality (1.5 Million) Hair & Beauty (1 Million) etc.

To bridge the demand–supply gap, the Government of India, under the direction of the Prime Minister’s Office unveiled the National Skill Development Plan. As per the government’s National Skill Development Plan, various ministries and nodal agencies have been entrusted to skill 500 million people by 2022. NSDC has a skilling target of 150 million, Ministry of Labor & Employment (MoLE) has a skilling target of 100 million, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has a skilling target of 50

million and the remaining target of 200 million has been allocated to 17 other ministries.

The numbers are huge and mind boggling. The task ahead for all of us is unprecedented. We need a paradigm shift in the way we have approached skill building. We cannot fight a war with a business as usual approach.

Just like Rome was not built in a day, the vision of developing a skilled and employable India will not be achieved overnight. It will not be a cakewalk either. The costs involved in doing it are huge and exponentially huge if we don’t get it right – because the future of nation is at stake.

The collective future of a nation is not built on vision and policies alone. Nor is it built by few organizations who are trying to plug the gap between ‘talent scarcity’ and ‘skill required’ by offering a plethora of skill development programmes.

For a nation to be transformed, mass movement must happen in multiple directions and preferably in a geometric progression. Aspirations of youth must be channelized, cultures need to be amalgamated and societal acceptance to the skilled workforce must eventually happen.

How will this be achieved? How do we address the demand–supply gap so that real skills are acquired and talent scarcity is addressed? Here’s a possible framework:

• LearnerFirst–Skilldevelopmentprogrammes should focus more and more on the learner and all other aspects associated with the programme should be secondary. What technology to use, what pedagogy to use, what language, delivery method etc should all be derived keeping the learner at the core of the skill development programme.

• Change in Corporate Mindset:Are corporations ready for

vocational workforce? Often we hear that corporations have huge manpower requirements and that there is a huge skill deficit. However, are corporations really ready to absorb talent with vocational qualifications? Has the HR department of organizations woken up to the needs of vocationally trained workforce? Have the job descriptions changed. All this will require a change in mindset of corporations which subsequently will be reflected in the hiring practices and policies adapted for recruiting vocationally skilled workforce.

• IndustryIntegration–Letindustryplayers from different industry sectors become an integral partner in the value chain of skill building. Let’s develop advanced curriculum frameworks which are derived from industry best practices and use them in skill development programmes – so that what is taught, is relevant and people do not end up acquiring obsolete skills. Setting up of sector skills councils is a right step in this direction.

• Making Vocational QualificationMainstream & Aspirational - While the policy level push for skill development is positive, skill development efforts still need to be made mainstream so that more and more people come forward and take advantage. Within India, education & skill building are perceived as an activity meant for either intellectuals (pursuing research) or a means to an end (do some reputed course and take up a good job). We as a society have grown up dreaming of becoming an Engineer, Doctor, Lawyer or Civil Servant etc. This needs to change and the change should happen really fast.

• Support Ecosystem – Even whenvocational qualifications becomes

Building a skilled & employable India collaboratively!Sanjeev Duggal*

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mainstream and aspirational, most of these initiatives will not take off without a supporting ecosystem. Our work in rural markets indicates that the motivations and drivers of the young in rural areas are not the same as in urban areas. We have discovered that only 40% of the people are mobile, and 50-60% of those do not want to move more than 7 km from their home. How do we channelize this population? To do this, a strong parallel support ecosystem is needed: support needed while shifting to new locations, reloc-ation process, affordable housing and so on.

• RigorousAssessment&

to suit requirements of the Indian market

However, none of these initiatives will succeed in isolation. For nationwide transformation all the stake holders involved - Government, Industry Bodies, Academia, Intern-ational Agencies, Media, NGOs and society at large -need to work cohesively keeping the bigger interest of the nation in mind.

Skills are the currency of the future and India needs to unlock the potential of this currency to reap a demographic bounty!

*Sanjeev Duggal is Co-Chairman, FICCI Skill Development Forum and CEO & Director Centum. Learning Ltd.

Private sector involvement with skills is not new. Several companies have for long been

imparting skills-related training as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives or to meet captive manpower requirements.

However, skills as a business proposition has thus far not elicited the desirable degree of interest among big organizations despite a projection by Kotak Institutional Equities that the skills training market could be as high as $20 billion by 2022.

A limited number of training companies with a national footprint and a host of regional players have dominated the skills arena which

Certifications – Key competencies across sectors should be mapped and candidates must be assessed, trained and awarded certification against the skill sets acquired after rigorous assessment. Standar-dization will become a huge bottleneck unless acted upon immediately. Implementation of adequate quality standards at each stage: right from content development to training delivery & certification must be ensured to produce right quality of skilled candidates.

• Glocalize–Successstoriesofvocational initiatives in western countries like UK, US, Australia etc can be replicated and localized

Skills gap needs private sector intervention Dilip Chenoy*

has resulted in inadequate capacity creation to meet the workforce requirements of India.

Given this fact, some may question the wisdom of entrusting the private sector with the mandate of contributing about 30% to the government’s target of skilling 500 million Indians by 2022 through partnerships with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), which, itself, is a Public Private Partnership between the Ministry of Finance and ten industry organizations.

The Prime Minister’s Council on Skill Development, however, had a very good reason for setting up the NSDC, and it is acting as a vehicle to catalyze private sector involvement in the skills space for imparting job-linked training to 150 million

people by 2022. The Council sought the private sector’s participation in order to leverage the country’s favourable demographic profile and transition from a developing to a developed nation.

The Council was aware that the only way to galvanize the private sector was through the creation of a vibrant, sustainable market for skills training, a function to be undertaken by the NSDC through a three-pronged approach revolving around creating, funding and enabling sustainable skills training initiatives in the private space.

The NSDC’s experience over the two-and-a-half years that it has been operational suggests that the Prime Minister’s Council was right in placing its faith in the private sector.

NSDC board meeting in progress.

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From big corporates such as Apollo Hospitals, Centum (Bharti Group), Future, IL&FS, NIIT or TVS to niche private sector training providers such as TalentSprint, or from educational institutions such as the Centurion Group of Orissa to social entrepreneurs, there has been a growing interest among private sector organizations to align with the NSDC to start sustainable skill development ventures.

The NSDC has enabled its private sector partners to succeed by seeing its own role as that of a social venture capitalist-cum-development bank and putting its own stake in the game through patient capital, flexible financial terms, transparent and time-bound project approval, and a funding and monitoring framework.

As of May 2012, the NSDC Board had committed funds to 60 projects (49 pure-play training proposals and 11 Sector Skill Council initiatives), which together are capable of skilling nearly 70 million people by 2022. Until March 2012, NSDC Partners had trained 1.81 lakh people and ensured jobs for over 1,44,000 of the young boys and girls who had enrolled at their institutions. As of March 2012, NSDC partners had set up 3,230 physical and mobile training centres and established a presence in 365 districts nationwide.

Many of the NSDC’s partners

have embarked on large-scale training projects capable of training a minimum of 100,000 persons in 10 years either on their own or through consortiums. At places, these organizations are even teaming up with ITIs to use the latter’s spare infrastructure for running their courses in order to keep costs down and be in a position to start operations quickly. In other areas, school and other public infrastructure is being used.

Many NSDC partners are training people to become housemaids or drivers and also helping them find gainful employment. Training organisations are setting up rural BPOs to employ persons trained by them. Training centers are being opened across the country.

NSDC is also providing a framework for employers and industry to lead in the area of competency development, assessment, certification and curriculum validation through the formation of Sector Skill Councils; eleven have been approved thus far. FICCI has taken the lead in setting up the Media and Entertainment Council and is in the process of leading the formation of other Councils. The pace has to dramatically increase and industry has to take leadership.

Although the NSDC-led interventions augur well, it is evident that the private sector needs to do

much more for India to emerge as the skills capital of the world. Companies have to stop looking at skilling ventures from the prism of CSR since the availability of trained people in sufficient numbers also holds the key to their own growth plans.

FICCI is a stakeholder in NSDC and the current President of FICCI is an active member of the Board.

Taking a cue from the Finance Minister’s address at the FICCI Annual Session, three actions members of FICCI could take are:

• Setupscalablesustainableskilldevelopment initiatives

• Supporttheformationofsectorskill councils in their specific business sectors, and assist with trainers

• Getsuppliersandusersofyourproducts to employ certified workers and pay training organisations a placement fee

The private sector has a huge task ahead as providing skills to 150 million people is not a small undertaking. But if industry leaders collaborate there is no reason why the private sector cannot make a real difference to the lives of countless people.

*Dilip Chenoy is CEO & MD of National Skill Development Corporation.

Board Members of the Media & Entertainment Skills Council (MESC) led by FICCI with Dr. Kamal Haasan, Actor and President of the MESC.

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Empowerment through skills: Andhra Pradesh’s initiativesProf. K.C. Reddy*

Address customer needs, focus on quality and scale

“We have entered an exciting vista in the journey of skill

development in India. A lot of people, both in India and abroad, are getting interested in the possibilities the Indian landscape offers. What is not in view, however, are the complex issues of stakeholder expectations –industry, government, training providers, facilitating institutions, and most importantly the youth. Developing a simple and sustainable plan often seems challenging.

My thoughts on transforming the skill landscape start with adopting a holistic yet differentiated approach. We have to address customer needs (both student and employer), quality and scale/size as an integrated triad, irrespective of the sector. Yet we need to adopt a differentiated

approach as the interplay of forces – need for equity in our society, aspirations, socio-economic factors, employer needs, government goals - require innovating on new models continuously. New learnings from the grassroots level and from global experience needs to be employed. We need a hugely collaborative and enabling environment which will build scale and sustainability. So while we need clear goals and accountabilities, we also need long term focus and most importantly an element of trust among key stakeholders in skill development. We cannot afford to shortchange ourselves this time when the timing seems right and the necessary conditions are in place.”

Sushil Ramola is MD & CEO B-Able.

India is at the tipping point between realizing its “demographic dividend” or

having its large, young and growing population turn into a demographic nightmare. To achieve the former, the country will have to develop a skilled workforce which is the only sound basis on which an economy can grow, the individual prosper and the much touted financial inclusion achieved.

To achieve this, a multi-faceted approach from the governments at both the state and central levels and the private sector is required. At present only a small percentage of the workforce can access formal training because training facilities for the increasingly diversified demand from industry are limited, infrastructure is poor and there is a complete

mismatch between the needs of the marketplace and the curricula.

Recent studies identified that by 2015 Andhra Pradesh will require an incremental workforce of over 56 lakhs. The emerging economic activities of the State are diverse and the human resource requirements must correspond to them. Andhra Pradesh, a predominantly agriculture economy, has built a strong human resource base both in tertiary education and healthcare. Consequently there is a perceptible change in the aspirations of the young who want to move from underemployment to quality employment that promises better incomes.

In response to these emerging aspirations, the Government of Andhra Pradesh launched Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu (RYK) in August, 2011, to synergise skill building and placement efforts in government departments at the state level so as to train and place 15 lakh youth in the private sector by 2014-15. The concept of Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu has not only been the first of its kind in the country, but also unique in several ways. It is estimated that RYK requires Rs.1,700 crores to achieve the target.

RYK targets the bottom of the pyramid groups through the following interventions:

1. Registry of Unemployed youth: This is based on online registration through RYK portal and field surveys. Certain companies have been approaching REEMAP with their needs and these requests are referred to the concerned districts. In 2012-13, REEMAP will integrate all these efforts and maintain a job registry database which can be used by all the sub-missions under Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu.

2. Identification of job opportunities: The RYK portal enables employers to report employment opportunities so that districts can align their training programmes.

3. Post Placement Services: In order to ensure better retention of candidates in the private sector, certain critical services

Sushil Ramola

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are provided. For example, a list of affordable accommodations is maintained; call centres are available to provide guidance on opening a bank account, obtaining a bus pass, etc.

4. Collaboration with the Government of India and with industry, professional training partners, and skill development agencies. Within the RYK, Rajiv Education & Employment Council of Andhra Pradesh (REECAP) has been set up under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Chief Minister with 9 Cabinet Ministers, Principal Secretaries of relevant departments and 10 representatives from industry and academia to create an adequate policy environment and guide the implementation process. At the same time, an exclusive State Level Society Rajiv Education & Employment Mission in Andhra Pradesh (REEMAP) has been registered to coordinate the efforts of all sub-missions and ensure that they their performance criteria are met. REEMAP functions through 8 sub-missions covering important departments such as rural and urban development, employment and training, welfare to the disabled, etc. A District Level Committee, with the District Collector as Chairman, and key government officers and members from industry and academia, has also been set up to plan, implement and monitor RYK.

The way forward

As REEMAP nears the first year of its effort to build a model of placement linked training activity, both new opportunities and problems have become evident. he unemployed youth

are keen to switch their occupation, but not necessarily by shifting to urban areas, particularly in the case of the semi skilled workers. There is need to identify employment opportunities in non-farm activities, particularly in rural areas integrating employment and livelihood with quality of life. Promoting agro-processing activities, working on job opportunities in education, health, and environment related issues is critical.

Apart from the skills gap as defined by several studies, there is another important gap between available employment opportunities and aspirations of the youth. New openings in sectors like construction, retail and hospitality remain unfilled even though they offer good remuneration and upward mobility. The Government and the industry will have to build a credible model of upward skilling, institutional tie ups for educational opportunities and post placement support to attract youth into these sectors.

Training on a massive scale requires both quality infrastructure and relevant curriculum and content. The current situation either with the Government departments or industry is inadequate and poor. There are islands of quality training institutions with brilliant trainers. But to scale up the activity the country needs many more such institutions. The Government, either directly or through institutions like NSDC need to support infrastructural facilities in the public and private sector. Major industry undertakings must develop Skill Development Centres and either run training programmes themselves or offer them to professional training providers. Again a multi-pronged approach is needed to address this serious capacity constraint.

The government must step in to create a pool of quality trainers both generic and sector specific apart from designing appropriate curriculum and content. This will standardise the training activity and help to move towards assessment and certification which is critical for sustaining the entire programme. A national level initiative of certification is required to facilitate state level implementation.

While it is difficult to estimate precisely the manpower demand across sectors and regions, it is desirable to have a broad view of skills requirements in the medium term; to design relevant policy for training and skill development establishing a professional point of contact at the Government of India level is necessary.

There are several departments and institutions at the Government of India and the State level who are involved in training and skill development with separate budgetary provisions, frequently with overlap of functions. The NSDC began with a vision to bring the entire skill development activity under one umbrella. RYK has largely the same purpose. The activities of different departments need to be integrated for effective implementation and rational use of resources and ultimately to build quality and sustainable models. The Government needs to address them before asking the industry to do what is expected of them. Together we can build a country with equality of socio-economic opportunities, which has been India’s major objective of economic development.

*Prof K C Reddy is Chairman Rajiv Education & Employment Mission in Andhra Pradesh and Vice Chairman, REECAP.

FICCI -Burton and South Derbyshire College, UK Focus Group Discussion on Evolution of Key Strategic Partnerships with key industry players in India.

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Sustainable Entrepreneurial Economic Development Systems Bruce Niswander*

Rough estimates project as many as 1 billion human beings are either totally unemployed or

dramatically underemployed. These numbers do not count the hundreds of millions, perhaps billions, who are trapped in jobs that are insecure, undesirable, unsustainable (because they are based on shaky economic models), or dramatically underpaid. The search for a sustainable job has become the single most important challenge confronting humanity in the last 1,000 years.

Resolving the problem in an efficient and effective manner requires a dramatically new approach. As a starting point, every country needs to begin thinking, planning and acting globally. This worldwide reference includes sources for commercially attractive business ideas as well as secondary markets for locally driven products and services. In a world increasingly defined by “Arab Spring” type protests and social rebellions, the importance of the average person finding “financial hope” on a global scale cannot be overstated.

Incentivise employers to hire SSC certified personnel

"I look forward to the formation of the sector skills councils and their taking over the responsibility of ratifying course curriculum and providing certification. I believe this is going to bring about considerable transformation in the outlook and functioning of the stakeholders. A

voucher mechanism needs to be put in place along with government sponsored training courses. This will create a level playing field for all training providers, while giving the learner an opportunity to choose his/her training school and walk in with his training voucher to avail of the necessary discounts as would be applicable to him.

The process of incentivising employers, as is a standard practice in countries abroad, can be adopted and implemented through the SSCs. This will encourage the industry to hire SSC certified personnel and also encourage the youth to take up such certified courses".

The starting point for any realistic “jobs” initiative begins with two critical components: a system for effectively transferring key employment skills to the average worker in a timely, efficient and cost effective manner. The second requirement is to create new businesses and product offerings that will require a growing number of entrepreneurially trained, skilled workers. One without the other fails to address the essence of the challenge.

The last 30 years have witnessed a less than effective resolution of the global employment challenges. Most of the jobs created over the last 15 years have been increasingly controlled by large, global corporations establishing production facilities in low-wage countries in order to gain meaningful cost advantages. This path has been verified by a recent study released by McKinsey & Company titled “The World at Work: Jobs, Pay, and Skills for 3.5 billion people”. Although this strategy has provided some jobs for previously unemployed individuals

in certain developing countries, it must be noted that for every job created there is a high probability that one or more jobs were eliminated somewhere else in the world.

The sustainability of these “cost reduction” jobs should also be evaluated very carefully. Just as these jobs were relocated from countries where wage rates drove costs too high, so too will the current job centers suffer relocation pains when workers in other countries agree to do the same work for less money. It is important to remember that the critical, location decisions are controlled by commercial entities headquartered far from the actual place of production.

Jitendra Kalra

Jitendra Kalra is CEO, Dr. Reddy’s Foundation.

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Sadly, this drive for increased productivity and profitability is rapidly creating a global economy of very few “haves” and a rapidly growing number of “have-nots”. This downward spiral for the individual worker will put even greater pressure on an already grim employment picture. The world cannot wait for the mega-corporations to bail out humanity’s employment future: it must start local and go global.

The true solution is a bottom up, empowerment system that begins with an entrepreneurial spark in each neighborhood and city that grows into a global tsunami of new products and services. This bottom up path must focus on “skilling” workers in a timely and cost effective manner and then connecting them to commercial innovation centers and new business markets that will deliver the expanding demand for new products and qualified “help”.

Blueprint for an Effective Jobs ‘Engine’

A truly sustainable jobs solution must start with a compelling message that convinces each and every individual that the responsibility for improving their financial future is theirs and theirs alone. Everyone must understand and personally acknowledge that Governments are incapable of creating financially sustainable businesses that can provide jobs. The traditional, top down, worker support programs must exchange artificial funds transfers for local, national and international programs that deliver entrepreneurial empowerment in the form of new skills, new products and new jobs.

Even with good “skills transfer” programs, it is critical to create an environment that supports new products, services and innovative commercial initiatives. At least a portion of the newly skilled must also develop the entrepreneurial drive to identify problems and commercial opportunities and then take a calculated risk on finding a

profitable solution. There are many definitions of an “entrepreneur”, but one of the most basic that fits this global challenge is “someone who exercises initiative to gain the benefit of an observed opportunity.” Independence, initiative, resourc-efulness, and the ability to see and seize a promising opportunity – these are the skill requirements for financial survival in a fluid and ever-changing global economy. In simple iconic terms, the focus is to plant the seeds of self-actuated, economic growth at the local level in every corner of the modern world and then collectively harvest the positive results: a Global Incubator for global jobs and the path to sustainable economic development.

This empowerment solution must be capable of functioning in neighbourhoods as well as the rapidly changing, global marketplace. It must have the ability to reach out to everyone regardless of prior education, age or geographical location. Skill transfers

(the act of “skilling” the unemployed and underemployed population) must occur in a simple, timely and cost effective fashion. Schools and universities, government agencies, professional service providers and established commercial entities must appreciate the benefits that will result from their collaboration in support of this community empowerment initiative.

Key components of any SEEDS (Sustainable Entrepreneurial Econo-mic Development Systems) initiative include skills transfer and job creation.

Skills Transfer entails awareness, dynamic skills blueprint, individual skills support network, collaboration with commercial ‘Employers’ and simplified engagement environment.

In job creation there is the issue of the ability to identify problems and commercial opportunities, need for entrepreneurial skills, a commercialization resource map and innovative ‘solution sourcing’.

ITIs need to grow and flourish

“ITIs, both private and public, are like the nerve centres of the skill development mission. As a member of the National Association of Vocational Training Providers (NAVTPs) my primary wish is to see the network of ITIs grow and flourish with adequate infrastructure facilities and mechanisms for encouragement for the students in the form of fee waivers and scholarships with attractive employment opportunities.

There should be special focus on industry linkages. The engagement to revolutionise the process of vocational training would require input comprising of the curriculum and pedagogy which should come from the industry and lead to the output of absorption of such skilled people by the same industry players.”

Indu Goyal, Member FICCI NAVTP and Director ICI ITI.

IL&FS students with their certificates at the SQA training program.

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One way to quickly address this immediate need for proven solutions to local problems is to leverage the global Internet supply for proven solutions. Given the time it will take to create this critical resource, an alternative is to identify the opportunity and pursue a “proven solution” through global sourcing. This concept of global entrepreneurial transfer is a promising way to kick-start a local business solution as well as provide these promising proven solutions with exciting market opportunities.

The final and most important skill anyone can acquire in their personal portfolio is the ability to successfully market and sell a new product or service. Over the past 5 years this part of the commercialization solution has undergone an almost total redefinition with the introduction of global social networks and digital outreach services.

Finally, local, regional and national media channels must aggressively promote early successes and accomplishments of the skills transfer / jobs initiative. Early examples of positive results provide the most important value of the empowerment solution.

From a global perspective, the pursuit of a sustainable, skills empowerment / jobs engine should realistically begin in India. The entire world is in desperate need of a bottom up, empowerment solution that helps every individual effectively engage in today’s dynamic economy. Financial survival has transitioned from being one of many global concerns to being THE global challenge. The future survival of children, families, communities and entire countries are caught in the grip of the jobs tsunami. India needs to show the world that there is a realistic path to a “bottom up” job for everyone.

*Bruce Niswander is Director Economic Development Initiatives and Global Business Incubators, an affiliate of the UN NGO South-South News.

In Germany every apprentice, employed by a company, is paid a regular salary-approximately

one third of a workers wage. In many trades and professions the apprentices have to join special training courses at the training institutes of chambers and associations against fees, paid by the employer. Companies employ certified in-house instructors and it takes between 36-42 months to complete the vocational education and training process in a company.

Seen from the Indian perspective it seems an exorbitant amount that an entrepreneur has to pay for such a long ‘training course. But is this the reality?

Is it just a “course”? Are German entrepreneurs bad businessmen?

In a recent study the German Federal Institute for Vocational Education (BIBB), an apex body of the Ministry of Education, revealed some interesting figures. They found, that on average any company, employing apprentices in Germany, spends Euro 15.000 (Rs. 10 lakh) annually per apprentice. But simultaneously every apprentice, who is involved in the shop-floor-based training process, contributes Euro 11.500 (Rs. 8 lakh) to the companies performance; an immediate return of 80 per cent on all expenses, or better “educational investments”. In the construction sector the return is 100 per cent and more as the industry has voluntarily introduced common funding sys-tems for the reimbursement of training expenses to companies. Not considered are the savings on recruitment of workers, on skill adap-tation trainings for newcomers, on retention programs etc.

In fact, it is a win-win-win model, for the employers, the apprentices and the government.

This alone should provide a sound argument for any businessman and any official, looking into matters of

Why the dual mode of vocational education & training is most viableUlrich Meinecke*

Skill development a panacea for alleviating poverty“To ensure increased income, sustainable livelihood and inclusive growth, Skill development is crucial for empowering individuals and improving their social acceptance.I dream of a world where skill development is not only looked upon as a vehicle for providing low end jobs but a means for alleviating poverty through sustainable livelihood. People responsible for quality and efficient service are thoroughly skilled and professional in their respective fields. Skills building not only improves effectiveness, but also emphasizes the contribution of labour to the overall development.”

Col. Prakash Tewari (Retd.) is Managing Trustee, Tata Power Community Development Trust, Mannat Foundation.

Col. Prakash Tewari (Retd.)

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modernization of VE&T in India; they should consider which best practices can be introduced from this comprehensive ‘dual track model’. Let’s consider three:1. There is the strong Industry –

Government cooperation, making the dual VE&T-System in Germany actually the world’s largest PPP-Project.

One aspect of this cooperation is the shared responsibility: while the Industry takes care for all parts of the practical education and training in the industrial facilities (including running the training institutes of Chambers and associations) the State Governments are in charge of running the vocational schools. The apprentices are trained roughly 70 per cent of the time within the industry, 30 per cent in the vocational school.

The vocational schools render all theoretical knowledge needed to execute a job properly. They are manned by highly educated teachers and professionals. This might be a pattern for the future modernization of ITIs, turning

them into knowledge hubs for the trainees of the Industry.

Another aspect is the responsibility of the Industry (through the system of Chambers) to develop and continuously upgrade the curricula. The role of the Gover-nment is to moderate this process and to enact these curricula under the Vocational Education Act, making it compulsory as “National Occupational Standards” (NOS).

2. There is the system of Chambers as self governing bodies of the

Industry and skilled crafts. As “bodies of public law” they are legally entitled by the Government to manage, monitor and regulate the whole system of VE&T. Whether it is the accreditation of vocational training providers, the training of trainers, the curricula development or the execution of examinations and certification – all this is the business of the Chambers, acting like regional and multiple “Sector Skill Councils”.

3. There is the large experience of the Chambers and the German Industries on how to organize and run the inhouse processes of vocational education and training in the companies itself, using the existing technology (thus saving the vocational schools from investing continuously into modern facilities).

There are many more aspects of the “dual track” system to be considered, rendering sufficient substance to continue the Indo-German dialogue between the stakeholders in VE&T. Besides the growing cooperation between Vocational Training providers and Industries from both countries the next FICCI Global Skill Summit will provide a new platform in the first session of the “Indo German Skill Development Forum”.

*Ulrich Meinecke is Counsellor, German Embassy in New Delhi.

Special Workshop on ‘German Vocational Education & Training in specific sectors - lessons for the formation of Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) in India’ September 14, 2011, New Delhi.

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Source: ‘More and Better Jobs in South Asia’ World Bank

Aggregating efforts for a SAARC Skill Development plan Ideation, Innovation and ImplementationAnjali Taneja*

The latest World Bank report - More and Better Jobs in South Asia -makes some interesting

observations. Over the next several decades South Asia will contribute nearly 40 percent of the growth in the world’s working age population and the region will add between 1 million and 1.2 million new entrants to the labour force every month.

South Asia is home to nearly 24 percent of the world’s population with a large proportion in the working age group. Consequently, South Asia has the potential to become the world’s largest source of human resource capital but a concerted effort towards knowledge transfer and skill development is required if the demographic dividend is to be achieved. This provides an excellent opportunity for the region to collaborate and create a regional skills development plan.

FICCI has taken the initial steps towards launching a SAARC skills development initiative to identify and map the industry’s needs – both

existing and upcoming. In addition, FICCI is creating a forum for dialogue which can define the employability challenges in the region. Lastly FICCI is fostering partnerships among various SAARC countries.

In many ways South Asia has done well in maintaining higher levels of labour productivity with marked acceleration in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the years and creation of better jobs; however the region faces an acute employment challenge today - the need to absorb new entrants in the labor market at rapidly rising levels of labor productivity.

In this background, FICCI’s unique initiative aims at a) identifying and mapping existing and upcoming industry needs b) creating a forum for dialogue and discussion which can determine the skills gaps and define regional employability challenges c) fostering partnerships within various SAARC countries and aggregating efforts towards skills development on a region wide basis.

Sri Lanka2000-10

0

1

2

3

4

per c

ent

1.0 1.2 1.0

2.3 2.2 2.22.3 2.5 2.6 2.8

3.3 3.33.0

3.6 3.6

India1985-2010

working-age population employment labor force

Bangladesh2000-10

Nepal1995-2010

Pakistan2000-10

Skills in SAARC- India has launched a massive skills development program, the avowed goal of which is to provide training and employability skills to 500 million people by 2022- Bangladesh in a first in this region, has started work on the development of Industrial Skills Councils in 22 sectors-Skilling Pakistan has provisioned for cooperation between industry, training providers, the gover-nment and other stakeholders -The approach to technical vocational education and training in Nepal clearly highlights the plan for free, subsidized training and lifelong learning for Nepali citizens

• 8,00,000 new jobs a monthcreated between 2000 and 2010.

• Total employment in SouthAsia rose from 473 million in 2000 to 568 million in 2010- an average annual rate of growth of 1.8 percent – with the highest growth recorded in Pakistan of nearly 4 percent a year.

The Education - Skills - Employment triad: Taking Stock

FICCI has taken the initial steps towards launching a SAARC skills development initiative to identify and map the industry’s needs – both existing and upcoming.

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Participants of the roundtable in skills with Rehmatullah Javed, Chairman, Skills Development Council, Ministry of Labour and Manpower, Pakistan; Anjali Taneja, Assistant Director, International Division, FICCI & Dr Aarti Srivastava, Associate Professor, NUEPA, India.

FICCI – NUEPA Roundtable on ‘Skills for Employability’ in Lahore, Pakistan

FICCI and the National University for Education, Planning and Administration (NUEPA) led the first roundtable on ‘Skills for Employability’ in Lahore, Pakistan to gauge the skill requirements across sectors. The meeting was organised by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry in May 2012. The session underscored the need to overcome the widening skills gaps within SAARC countries. Key highlights of the roundtable session are:1. There is a stark difference

between South Asia and other parts of the world in terms of levels of literacy, skills, proficiency, productivity and employability

2. The region fares very poorly in exchange of skills and technology in comparison with other regions such as East Asia and Latin America.

3. More than 70 percent of the enrolment in secondary education is devoid of any specialisation. In some countries, vocational education accounts for less than 1 percent. Formal training practices or on the job training sessions are also limited.

4. Skills based careers are a

regional basis through mutual recognition of qualification framework across countries, running common certification programs and ensuring peer review systems in the region

Key proposed steps include:a) mapping out the skill needs

across sectors and human resource requirements in all SAARC countries.

b) creating a virtual online portal for exchange of ideas and suggestions towards shaping such a forum.

c) aligning our training systems and learning outcomes to international benchmark and standards.

d) generating funds to support such a set up may be a problem in initial stages; however once such a model is tested and active, it can run on an annual basis and can sustain itself in the long run.

Promoting regional cooperation on skill development will not only ensure create opportunities for growth, but will strengthen the process of regional integration in SAARC.

*Anjali Taneja is Assistant Director, International Affairs (South Asia Desk).

matter of chance and not choice. 5. The infrastructure including

shortage of skilled faculty in schools and colleges is abysmal, teaching pedagogy is outdated, standardised curriculum and employer input in skill building negligible

6. Most South Asian countries have not done enough to engage parents to formulate integrated policies for early childhood development.

SAARC countries need to explore the possibility of creating a Regional ‘Skills Development Forum’ which could evolve out of stakeholder partnerships from the government, industry and academia and focus on:

a) assessing skills gaps across sectors and countries

b) forming and conducting skills exchange programs involving exchange of best practices of technical and vocational education and technology

c) building on the knowledge capital and creating a region wide database of manpower for effective cross country exchange and movement

d) recognising competency standards and benchmarks on a

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Career & Skills Training in the 21st Century Why curriculum reform is the heart of this transformationAjay Shukla*

The constituencies of employers i.e. business people who run companies and who create

jobs and the education system i.e. teachers, trainers and institutions which provide students and trainees with the knowledge and skills they need to be successful as employees have for most part lived in two very different worlds.

They speak different languages. Employers speak about employable skills ranging from core workplace skills to technical skills. Educators speak about subjects, teaching, tests and examinations and qualifications. They have different criteria for success and different standards of accountability.

Educators are graded on how well their students perform on tests, not on how well they perform later in life. Employers are evaluated on how innovative and successful their businesses are; how well their workforce contributes to the growth, innovation, adaptability, customer satisfaction and profit.

They have different ‘customers’. Employers have to satisfy their customers/shareholders by demon-strating value and are constantly challenged to improve value to prevent the ire of their stakeholders. Educators

have to satisfy, if government funded, the central or state governments or the school management, if privately run. Their direct “customers” (students, parents) have little to say in how schools are run and few options if dissatisfied. In India due to a serious supply gap across K-12 School and even higher education there is an inherent arrogance to not consider students and parents’ concerns and feedback.

However the one area where employers’ and educators’ goals con-verge is in the Career and Workplace Skills Training sector. Students have more specific goals in mind for the education or training they are pursuing like employability, higher salary and career advancement. This makes education or training providers more accountable to their “customers” in much the same way most private businesses are.

Therefore, it is not surprising that within the Career and Skills Training sector the gap between business and education is beginning to shrink. The two seemingly divergent camps are beginning to have a frank and critical discussion about the future of education and its relationship to business and employment in an increasingly high-tech and more

competitive global economy. Skills training is, in fact, leading the way in this regard for the rest of the education community.

India is in a unique position, quite like the way the mobile phone revolution took place in the last 20 years, to create its own model for skills training. She has the opportunity of effecting a generational change by using the best practices, proven curriculum and content from around the world and adapting it to its needs.

If 21st century Skills Development is a national endeavour then it needs to be accorded a ‘national mission’ status on the lines of the Unified Identity (UID) project and a political will to dismantle the duplication of work across various ministries like Ministry of Labour, Ministry of HRD and discarding obsolete curriculum, delivery mechanisms and practices inherited from our highly outdated vocational training system. Often ‘creative destruction’ is the way to make progress.

Listen to the stakeholders…

Recognizing and involving stakeh-olders – government, current skills development and training providers, content owners, technology players

While there is an eternal debate between the education system and employers on the skills in demand versus the education provided there is considerable alignment on the desired skills when we speak about career or workplace education and training.

Stakeholders have often very quickly devalued the importance of global best practices in curriculum, content, assessment and certification relative to other aspects of workplace skills training and education. This is a grave mistake and can be the ‘achilles heel’ of any policy and implementation reforms in this area. Leveraging the body of global knowledge, expertise and experience but deeply adapted to India’s needs discarding our mental dogma’s of ‘not invented here’ can leapfrog our efforts to empower the youth of the 21st century India.

We also need a ‘mission mode’ approach to implement reforms in skills training and education on the lines of a ‘national endeavour’ like the Unified ID (UID) project or Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) through thoughtful policy reforms, public-private partnerships and rising above political considerations.

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with an interest in skills training, educators, global experts, skills councils in trade and industry bodies, employers, learners are all stakeholders. The author believes that the policy makers have not been able to seek inputs and contributions from many of the mentioned stakeholders.

Analyse needs of the ultimate customers…

…of sectors and employers with high intake and ongoing training demand. Define job families in each sector, hiring trends now and projected in the future. The work done by National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC) in this area is noteworthy and laudable.

Get a clear articulation of skills…

…and setting the standard for the skill for job performance. This activity has to be done for each identified job that is in demand. This exercise is perhaps the most critical to develop an effective curriculum but also the one where least time is being spent or this is being done unscientifically.

Global best practices especially in USA, UK and EU point to alignment of skills standards, curriculum, instruction, assessment and certification into an integrated skills development system.

While this article speaks in detail on the curriculum aspects but the author cannot restrain himself from mentioning other aspects related to policy, role of government, industry and educational system to make a revolutionary change in developing employability skills in young Indians.

Start early – Embed employability skills in the school curriculum

Core skills below need sustained and several years of development and cannot simply be ‘repaired’ at a later stage through training

• Selfconfidence• Criticalthinking• Creativethinking• Interpersonalskills• Leadershipskills• Experiencewithrealworld

problems

How can this be done? While the right approach is to embed these skills in the school education curriculum and teaching methods eg through field work, presentations, projects with local industry there should be credit based industry specific courses as a part of the syllabus and can replace obsolete subjects currently persisting in most school syllabi. The credits for these courses should be recognized by university or college entrance eligibility cut-offs as additional grace marks.

To illustrate – all students taking a course in retail of food industry course will not necessarily join these industries but at the minimum acquire ‘real’ workplace skills like interacting with customers, communication, personal grooming and self confidence. In case of a school dropout such a training will provide a ‘safety net’ of training for employability.

Government should facilitate private training companies to develop these programs, train the teachers who will also end up upgrading their teaching skills. Teachers too need to be assessed on their effectiveness in delivering the program to provide real time feedback to school administrators. This will help raise accountability and performance in the school system which is sorely lacking presently.

Create and implement public – private partnership

Subsidies work best in the hands of the end-consumer. Government should give ‘training vouchers’ to student redeemable only for training either within the school premises or externally at accredited training companies. This will create the

incentive, and specific purpose to such a consumer subsidy. Employers and companies need to hold valid the certification granted after assessment as a job eligibility parameter. After all they have been a stakeholder in the development of this skills training system. They also need to guarantee ongoing support on the skills identification, validate curriculum, internship/ apprenticeship and ultimately employment for certified trainees.

Delink skills assessment, certification and training

In other words training companies should not certify or assess skills and certifying bodies should not train. This is important to effectively create an inherent check and balance for quality. If the trainees from Institution A consistently score better than Institution B market forces will ensure that either the weaker institution will upgrade its curriculum or Institution A will become more commercially successful. Over time the ‘pass rates’ should determine the accreditation or cancellation of various programs.

Use global best practices, content, expertise and ADAPT to suit India’s needs

This is a model that has worked very well for many sectors of the Indian economy and there is no reason why it would not work for skills development. Sector skills councils need to work with counterparts in UK/USA and collaborate to develop the frameworks and source content. Core content companies in India should be tasked with the adaptation, industry and SME validation and developing the courseware.

*Ajay Shukla is Vice President & Managing Director, McGraw-Hill Education India.