Skill Vibes: Pause..Reflect..

  T he Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) are back in news with fresh announcements in the Union Bugget 2022. " Startups will be promoted to facilitate "Drone Shakti" through varied applications and for Drone-As-A-Service (DrAAS). In select ITIs, in all states, the required courses for skilling, will be started." The ITI system ideally, needs to be flexible and nimble footed to adopt to the dynamic needs of the industry to supply skilled manpower in the normal course of functioning, rather then a push from the Union Budget. These institutes (barring a few) are plagued with inefficiency due to shortage of staff specially the Principals (it is not uncommon to find one Principal managing several ITIs, in some cases hundreds of Kms apart), ill equipped trainers, outdated tools and equipment or even shortage of outdated equipment. The silver lining is that at the top level there is willingness to change things for better, hence funds are being pumped regularly int...

  T he ‘Kaushalacharya Samadar 2020’ was organised  on the 10th September to celebrate & honour 91 trainers & gurus across 5 categories & 21 subcategories who have made an incredible difference in the entire skill ecosystem. A great way to honour the trainers of the skill ecosystem based on their hard work and dedication. Such events do raise the respect and self esteem of the trainers.  However, the point to ponder is whether the impact of such one off events is lasting? Or is there something else that needs to be done simultaneously for a  continuous and longer impact? A detailed analysis is required to find a meaningful solution.  There is no one solution that will motivate the trainers and at the same time make the profession more respectable and desirable. Training of trainers is beyond doubt most critical. There are several examples to prove that largely the trainers are technically no better than the trainees themselves. The MSDE, NSDC and SSC...

T he Skilling Ecosystem continues to struggle to develop desired competencies for their trainers & trainees the lack of  which results in unreasonable failure rates and low placement percentages. The data made public by NSDC recently shows failure rates are more in the manufacturing sector as compared to the service sector job roles. Stakeholder at all levels are making positive contribution, however we still keep missing the goal by a big margin.  What are the possible reasons? There is no one specific reason but a host of them cutting across the "Skills Value Chain". Their combined effect keeps us away from the fundamental goal of enhancing Competencies. To discuss a few: a)  Setting up an ITI / Skill development center without linking it to the local and regional labour market survey, leading to a mismatch of demand and supply in the local area. Many times the focus is on choosing job roles with minimum investment disregarding the actual local requirements.  b...

I n my previous story on the subject (Skill Development:   Lessons from Afghanistan (1), I had shared the challenge posed by the then President of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, which took us Kabul to select the potential trainees for a focused short term multi-skilling capsule to be delivered in New Delhi. We now move ahead from March 2005 from Kabul to May 2005, New Delhi. The 25 Afghan trainees who were selected for a short multi-skilling capsule on use of power tools for construction related job roles arrived at New Delhi on the 5 th of May. They were well received and taken to the youth hostel in central Delhi which was set up to be their home for the next 15 days.   A lot of hard work had been put in between mid-March and 4 th of May to ensure meaningful training. All elements to make the training successful were falling in place: The Embassy of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan confirmed the broad trades of Carpentry, Plumbing and Electrical Wiring. The Principa...

S kill development lessons from Afghanistan…Surprised!!! Yes. Afghanistan. I will take you through a journey in a series of articles covering one of the best skill development projects ever I have been through. Since the purpose is to share the lessons, I will use the names of the organisations and people involved restrictively. It certainly was a show of detailed coordination between the Governments and various organisations and leadership, courage, innovation and never say die attitude of the team members at all levels. As of now I roll back to the year 2005. The then President of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan along with his Cabinet Ministers came to India for a series of meetings in Feb 2005. The meetings besides the Govt of India were also facilitated by the Indian High Commission at Kabul. One of the apex Industry Associations was entrusted the task of making a presentation to the Afghan President and his team of Ministers on skilling the human resource for re-constructi...

I t is always the learner first. If we keep this in mind, we are less likely to go wrong in making the appropriate policy decisions. One contagious issue bothering the Indian skills eco-system is the decision to induct Multiple Awarding Bodies in addition to the Sector Skill Councils to certify all the qualifications available in the National Qualification Register (NQR). There is no denying that competition is good for the system provided the desirable result is a better-quality assured certification. On the contrary, unhealthy competition can be counterproductive.   The basic / fundamental that must not be lost sight of is the fact that all awarding bodies must follow the same set of rules to design, develop, validate, approve, deliver, assess, certify and monitored the qualification. It is also a fundamental that must not be tempered with is that the Awarding Bodies must design “their” qualifications. The emphasis is on “their” qualifications and not on “borro...

T he growth of the Indian hashtag Skills Development eco-system has been hectic. The space has swelled with people from different professions, many of them with passion for skills development and many just wanting to explore the new grounds. From Govt at all levels on one hand and Industry, Industry Associations, Sector Skill Councils, Training Centres, Trainers, Assessment Bodies, Assessors, Content writers and developers’ Educational institutes including Skill Universities on the other hand. It is natural for people to have varied understanding of fundamentals and principles. The lock-down to contain and fight hashtag COVID-19 has brought in a deliberate pause. This opportunity must be utilised to reflect on some fundamentals for a common understanding and cohesive outcomes in some taken for granted areas like:      (a) understanding the NSQF      (b) understanding and interpreting the Qualifications      (c) understanding the science...