Seven Key Skill challenges in India for

Skill Ministry
1. No industry accountability for placement &apprenticeship
Thirty one (31) Sector Skill Councils across nation have zero accountability for
placing students & ensuring apprenticeship. These SSC have been funded on
exchequers money. Number of students placed by them in the last 3 years is
nearly abysmal.
Challenge
Through skill policy modification &an executive order: placement &
apprenticeship goals should be mandated to respective SSC. Their performance
regarding placement & apprenticeship goals should be monitored on monthly
basis.
2. Skills development at
not mandated.

secondary & senior secondary schools is

As a nation we deliberately did not create robust systems & processes for
vocationalization of education at schools(TVET) to increase the marginal
productivity & lowered unemployment rates amongst people who worked by
hand.
A detailed analysis of three stakeholders (industry, students, teachers &school
administrators) clearly shows why as a nation we never created an ecosystem &
robust system to skill large section of people through compulsory vocational
education at schools like in Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, China, Indonesia,
Philippines etc

Challenge
In order to become skill capital of the world it is essential that India should focus
on-3S
Scale (to skill 15 to 18 million youth every year) Standards (quality of content,
skill labs for practical learning ,teachers, assessors and practical on the job
training & apprenticeship) Speed(by 2030 the nation must skill 500 million youth
across the nation).
Such a scale is possible only and only through mandated by law high quality
skill delivery through 1,23,265 secondary schools and 60,383 senior secondary
schools. Currently 28.9 million students are enrolled at secondary level and 16.6
million students are enrolled at senior secondary level.
3. Skill Labs for practical training at Schools & accredited skill
centres non - existent.
We have no skill labs for practical training at schools &skill centres as we are
teaching skills by theory &rote rather than hands on practical training in the

skill labs at schools and skill centres. The schools in the countries like Indonesia,
Philippines, Iran have world class skill labs at schools.
Challenge
Lack of written policy-procurement procedures and systems on skill Labs at
schools & lack of adequate financial allocation for skill lab to states .

4. Lack of sector specific Skilled teachers &Assessors to at district

level non existent
Challenge

Lack of written down transparent policy-procedures & systems for sector

specific Skill teachers selection, their practical hands on training , their
certification &growth path and financial compensation.
5-Lack of availability of NSQF compliant & learner centric accredited
content
Out of 346 NOS (National Occupational Standards)at Level 4 , NSQF compliant &
learner centric accredited content is available only for 32 NOS.
Challenges
Adequate financial resources for PSSCIVE (NCERT) with stiff deadlines to
produce NSQF compliant & learner centric accredited content for 100 NOS within
next 12 months.
6. No data base available for MSME where 37% people
employed.

are

As per ministry of company affairs 90 %of the companies in India are proprietary
firms & 6% are partnership firms under MSME sector where no centralized
database is available as their registration by law is not needed.
Challenges
If 18.5 crore people are employed in MSME, it is essential to have centralized
plus district wise MSME database for students apprenticeship-placement or
entrepreneurship linkages .
7. Low Image of Skill jobs
No local role model based advertising & TV shows exist in media to promote
image of skill workers their success in jobs .eg if a girl from a rural Rajasthan
schools learns welding & today is called Robo welder Rani and is one of the finest
welder with a large Indian company. Her story is an inspiration to most of the
girls. Similarly TV shows promoting & advertisements success stories of such
local heroes who have made a mark in life will slowly but steadily change image
of skilled workers.

Challenges
Create a well-crafted media based stories of highly accomplished skilled workers
as role models backed with adequate media budgets.

Navin Bhatia
MD, Navkar Skills
09810003021
navin@navkarskills.com