Skilling India for 21st-century skills: Collaborations show the way

With the sweeping changes brought into the economy in a post-pandemic world, linear job trajectories can no longer be expected as the norm. The workers of the future may expect to go through several kinds of jobs, including stints in the platform economy. This could be a major disruptor in the labour markets if we are not prepared. The education and skilling sectors, therefore, need to shift their focus to building skills that will enhance employability opportunities, while at the same time nurturing self-learning mindsets to ensure maximization of the potential of India’s demographic dividend.

If the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated anything, it is that flexibility and adaptability will be key to navigate the future of work. Such twenty-first-century skills – including digital fluency, self-learning, critical thinking, and problem-solving – are different from the skill sets that were relevant in the earlier times. It is these that will help youth thrive as part of the future workforce.

With this background, a large-scale education and skilling institution that could become the catalyst for such change are the Industrial Training Institutes and Vocational Training Institutes which cater to youth in the post-secondary school stage of education. Constituted under the Directorate General of Employment & Training (DGET), these institutions function under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, to provide training in various trades. 

In 2019, a collaborative effort by Accenture and Cisco, facilitated by the non-profit Quest Alliance, struck a partnership with the Ministry of Skills Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE). Under it, as many as 2.5 million youths were to get access to skills to enhance their employability by 2024. In 2020, J.P. Morgan joined the collaboration.

Called Future Right Skills Network, this collaboration maintained one strategic goal over the course of the next five years: to equip youth in India with critical skills as they transition into the world of work. The Directorate General of Training (DGT) that is housed within the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) caters to over 2.5 million students enrolled in Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) across India. The Director-General Training under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship is the apex organization for vocational training including women's vocational training.

Since its inception, the Future Rights Skills Network has benefited over 377,000 youth and 6631 trainers, through 823 ITIs and National Skill Training Institutes (NSTI) in 18 states across the country. The program has also created an Employability Skill portal that can be accessed on the website employabilityskills.net and via the Quest App. So far, over 1,90,000 learners have made use of digital content on employability skills hosted on the two platforms Quest App and the Bharat Skills portal.

The course includes modules for digital literacy, effective communication, career readiness, and advanced technology skills. With access to over 240 hours of training in a blended learning format that combines classroom and online training, students will learn critical skills including digital literacy, effective communication, workplace readiness, and data-backed decision-making. All modules are optimized for mobile phones to enable on-the-go self-learning, and the toolkit also includes ‘Train the Trainer’ courses, data, and analytics.

This partnership has been further strengthened through immersive work like building capacities of trainers and leaders done with the State Departments of Employment & Training (DET) in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Kerala, Haryana and Assam. Technical and vocational training ecosystems are upgraded through research- and technology-led interventions in learning and training models. This strategic networking helps build a seamless transition. We advocate critical knowledge that can shape a forward-thinking mindset across all stakeholders.

A special focus of the partnership was on bringing such skills to young women. With the female labour force participation rate at an all-time low of 20 percent, this initiative is also expected to give a fillip to women’s employability skills and widen the range of options for women in the markets of the future.

Youth who want to be ready for the future need, above all, a growth mindset that is powered by resilience, adaptability, and openness of learning. Ultimately, these soft skills will underpin all other skills needed for young people looking for jobs in the shifting landscape of work. This is the kind of long-term vision that the Future Right Skills Network is working towards.

The author is CEO, Quest Alliance, a not-for-profit trust that equips young people with 21st-century skills by enabling self-learning.

(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own and do not reflect those of DNA.)