In India Skills Matters!

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ContentsVOLUME 10 ISSUE 07 JULY 2014ISSN 0973-4139

INDUSTRYSPEAK

28New-Age Technology for Next-Gen Classrooms

Vineet Mahajan, Head, Display Solutions, Panasonic India

SPECIAL FEATURE

48 Will Stem Take Roots and Wings?

FEATURE

34Transforming Learning, TransformingLives

41 Learn, Retain and Excel

Nirav Khambhati, Chief Executive Officer,

Tata ClassEdge

42Smartpen

empowering

learners in India

Manu Nanda, Managing

Director, Wacom India

Pvt Ltd

44Brace up form-Learning

Monica Malhotra

Kandhari, Senior Director,

MBD Group

45Budget version of

digi-school in offing

Chetan Mahajan,

President, HCL Learning

NEWS

08 School Education

09 Higher Education

12 Campus Calling

LEAD FEATURE

54 Skill Matters: Building Brand India

58 New Solutions must for upskilling

RCM Reddy, Chairman, FICCI Skills Development

Forum and Managing Director & CEO, IL&FS

Education & Skills

60 The Pace of skilling

mission could

changeDilip Chenoy, CEO

& MD of National

Skill Development

Corporation

62 Review welfare

schemes that

guarantee

employment

Dr Santanu Paul, MD &

CEO, TalentSprint

64 Tie degree to

successful internship Subhasish Biswas,

Head Business

Excellence,

Wipro BPO

LEADERSPEAK

30 Bringing Global

Concepts to India

Alok Sinha, President & Head, Global Applications &

Engineering Services, Country Manager - I

ndia, Xchanging

46Better Times Ahead for Indian Techies

Dr Surendra Prasad, Chairman of the National Board of

Accreditation

COVER STORY

Boarding Schools: Home Away From Home?

P 14

Dilip Chenoy,

CEO & MD of

National Skill

Development

Corporation

60

MonicaMalhotra Kandhari,Senior Director, MBD Group

44


3/854July 2014 / digitalLEARNING

SPECIAL FEATURE

Our country has earned a reputation for

scam India. We will have to transform this

into skilled India. There is an urgent need

for manpower in the world. Our neighbour

China is getting older and we are getting

younger. Our priority should be skill develop-

ment in the youth, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while

replying to the debate on the motion of thanks on President

Pranab Mukherjees address to Parliament.

There is a need to have skill, not just certificates,

Modi added.

After steering the BJP-led NDA to power with an

absolute majority, Prime Minister Narendra Modi

has a tough task ahead to revive the Indian economy,

uplift the hundreds of millions of poor and create jobs

for the tens of millions of youth and build brand India.

K S Narayanan of Elets News Network reports

LEAD FEATURE

Demographic DividendsEmphasis of the new government is well-placed. A population

of 1.3 billion with about 0.8 billion in the working age - In-

dia in 2020 is surely something the world can look forward to

and this is what makes skill development significant for several

reasons. According to economic predictions, that time (2020)

would be the golden Growth era in the demographic dividend.

It is estimated that India would not only have enough man-

power to meet its own needs, it can help the rest of the world as

well. Amidst the glitz and glamour of these numbers, one often

chooses to ignore that in todays knowledge-based economy, the

Skill

Matters


4/855digitalLEARNING/ July 2014

digitallearning.eletsonline.com

quality of the workforce is more important than its quantity.

Skill DeficitIt is estimated that India would have a skill gap of 75-80 per

cent across sectors.

According to a survey conducted in March this year by a

job portal CareerBuilder India, the current job market is not

only frustrating for those looking for employment, but also for

businesses with open positions unable to find the right talent.

The skills gap in India is an issue that is not going away any-

time soon, CareerBuilder India Managing Director Premlesh

Machama said. Around 78 per cent of the surveyed employers

said they are concerned with the growing skills gap in India,

while 57 per cent said they currently have open positions for

which they cannot find qualified candidates.

The report further suggests that costs associated with the

skills gap can add up quickly and have broader implications for

business performance. There is a growing disconnect between

the needs of the employers and the skills that are available in

the job market today. This causes workers and companies to

miss out on realising their full potential and creates multiple

negative consequences for businesses, Machama added.

There is a growing disconnect between the needs of the employers and the skills

that are available in the job market today. This causes workers and companies

to miss out on realising their full potential




SPECIAL FEATURE

Institutional MechanismsTo create such an institutional base for skill development in

India at the national level, a Coordinated Action on Skill

Development with three-tier institutional structure consist-

ing of the PMs National Council on Skill Development, the

National Skill Development Coordination Board (NSDCB)

and the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) was

created in early 2008. With the creation of National Skill

Development Agency (NSDA), the National Council on Skill

Development, the NSDC Board and the Office of the Adviser

to Prime Minister on Skill Development have now been sub-

sumed in NSDA, while PMs National Council on Skill Devel-

opment was constituted as a Cabinet Committee on Skill De-

velopment in 2013.

Different stakeholders including India Inc have huge expec-

tations from Modi government to fix the skill deficit.

Welcoming the creation of new skill development ministry,

RCM Reddy, Chairman, FICCI Skills Development Forum andManaging Director & CEO, IL&FS Education & Skills expects

three issues to be resolved immediately. Streamline the imple-

mentation of skills schemes and programmes between 18 min-

istries to attract more professional agencies and private sector

partners to join the skilling mission. One of the important ar-

eas within this will be focusing on creating uniform funding

across ministries and departments with higher incentives for

capital expenditure intensive programmes, extend skills devel-

opment within the scheme framework for the informal sector

which could lead to self employment and entrepreneurship

LEAD FEATURE

56 July 2014 / digitalLEARNING




and fast track PPP initiatives for setting up of ITIs and Poly-

technics.

Co-ordination, hike budgetary allocationThe Modi government has for the first time created an exclu-

sive ministry to focus on skill development, entrepreneurship,

youth affairs & sports and appointed Sarabananda Sonowal,

the 51-year-old BJP leader from Assam.

Acknowledging the acute skill deficit in the country, So-

nowals ministry is undertaking a study to determine whether

there is need for adopting different models for different states

and settting up institutes for skill development immediately af-

ter the study is completed.Co-ordination among several ministries is a must to accel-

erate the pace of skilling Indian youths. Prime Minister Modi

needs to fix the inter-ministerial squabbles as union ministries

(Labour, Human Resources and Rural Development) fear los-

ing their turfs and funds as well. Skill development is a mas-

sive government programme with annual allocation of about

`5,000 crore. The funds and the work are spread over 11 min-

istries including HRD, labour and rural development that often

end up working at cross purposes.

Take for instance the Rural Development (RD) ministry

which received `1,400 crore in the last budget for its skill pro-

gramme Aajeevika, which is run by district RD officers by en-

rolling self-help groups while the Urban Development ministry

runs similar programmes in the cities and was allocated `100

crore. UPA-2, near the end of its tenure, had put the finance

ministry in charge of coordinating with all ministries on skill

development via the national skill development agency. It had

set a target to train 11 million youth in 2014-15 and 500 mil-

lion youth by 2020.

Another issue that will translate the new governments

good intent into action is the hike in budgetary allocation and

incentives for those affiliated to sector skill councils.

The challenge of skilling 500 million by 2022 has not

changed. What possibly could have changed is that pace with

which we go on year on year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi

has used four critical words-Skills, Speed, Scale and Sus-

tainability. His slogan is Shrameva Jayate and he talkedabout the need to empower people across the country. To con-

vert that vision into intent and execution, we need to step up

and accelerate action for going forward. Again, it all depends

on budgetary allocation and what we focus on, Dilip Chenoy,

CEO/MD National Skill Development Corporation said in an

interview.

If the new government can remove irritants and bottle-

necks and synergize the ef forts and resources to provide a fea-

sible platform for vocational education and skill development,

evolve solutions for upskilling 500 million by the year 2022, it

will not only create jobs for youth but could help India emerge

as the global choice for foreign direct investment and a global

talent provider besides steering the Indian economy to higher

growth trajectory.

Upskilling 500 million

by the year 2022will not only create

jobs for the youth

but could help India

emerge as the global

choice for foreign

direct investment

and a global talent

provider besidessteering the Indian

economy to higher

growth trajectory



LEADFEATURE

As one of the importantstakeholders in the skills mission,

what are your expectations

from the Union Minister for Skill

Development, Entrepreneurship

and Youth Affairs?

The setting up of a new ministry is a wel-

come move. India is faced with the target

of skilling 500 million by 2022. A dedi-

cated department on skills development

was the need of the hour, especially to

engage the growing number of young

people actively looking for employment

opportunities.

Some key areas where the new minis-

try must focus to ensure greater impact

are :

Streamline the imple-

mentation of skills

schemes and pro-

grammes between

18 ministries to

attract more pro-

fessional agenciesand private sector

partners to join the

skilling mission. One

important

area will be creating uniform fundingacross ministries and departments with

higher incentives for capex-intensive

programmes.

Extend skills development within

the scheme framework for the infor-

mal sector. The current framework of

placement-linked skills programmes

does not cater to people interested in self-

employment. With less than 93 per cent

of economy being non-formal, focus has

to be on skills development for livelihood

generation.

Fast-track PPP initiatives for setting

up of ITIs and Polytechnics that facili-

tates quality training to create world

class public infrastructure for vocational

education and training.

IL&FS Skills India started its skill

development programme way

back in 1997. What were the

challenges and how do you see

the road ahead ?There was no proven business model

10 years ago when we began our op-

erations. Hence, we were left with no

choice other than learning

from international

best practices and

customising them to

local needs. Today,

we have mastered

the process and

re-invented it by

engaging indus-

try in delivery

and implemen-

tation. Ever since we launched our firstmulti-skill centre at Hi Tech Weaving

Park in Palladam near Coimbatore,

Tamil Nadu, we have improvised on our

training delivery methods and experi-

mented to create a standardised scalable

model that draws strength from the inte-

gration of technology, innovation, inter-

activity and industry relevance.

We are focused on bringing the next

wave of innovations to cater to the ever-

changing needs of industry as well as

learners. We are focused on two key ar-

eas : moderating the price point of skill

services so that learners-especially from

Bottom of Pyramid groups-can afford

training and improving the quality to

make learner experience valuable.

Speaking of innovations in the skills

delivery model, we are currently focus-

ing on integrating skills development

within mainstream education basis the

National Skills Qualification Framework

(NSQF). The objective is to reach out tothe masses and bring vocational educa-

tion at par with formal education.

How big is the challenge of skill

development for India?

Among several challenges facing the vo-

cational education sector in India, two of

them stand in between Indias economic

growth and its reaping the benefits of the

demographic dividend.

First is inadequate infrastructure:As

per Twelfth Plan projections, about 25

million new entrants would join the la-

bour force in the next five years. In India,

NewSolutionsmust

forupskillingIL&FS Education & Skills is one of the two organisations profiled by the global analyst McKinsey

while assessing the success and impact of skill development world-wide. RCM Reddy, Chairman,

FICCI Skills Development Forum andManaging Director & CEO, IL&FS Education & Skills

spells out how the government and the industry need to collectively address the challenge of skill

development in India

58 July 2014/ digitalLEARNING




the per capita availability of institutions

imparting formal education is much

higher than those imparting vocational

education. Poor presence of vocational

institutions means the community is

less informed about it and hence their

poor utilisation. The location of institu-

tions also affects access. Also, poor infra-

structure facilities of classrooms, equip-

ment, workshop, and trained teachers

etc. within the institution affect the

quality of training imparted, affecting

learners future access to jobs.

The second is inadequate financial

support through bank loans and schol-

arships. Several affirmative schemes of

the government have been able to cover

the costs of vocational education of peo-ple from BPL groups and minority com-

munities. However, a major part of the

population are not covered under any

scheme and do not have any access to

institutional loans either.

Do you see vocational training

and skill development getting a

boost under the corporate social

responsibility as mandated under

the new Companies Act?

We are working with some of the top

PSUs and private sector companies to

implement their CSR vision on skills de-

velopment. We have already established

pan-India operations in a hub and spoke

model with our presence in 25 states

through a network of 38 multi skills

training institutes as hubs called IL&FS

Institute of Skills(IIS) and another 250+

single trade skilling centres as spokes

known as the IL&FS Skills Schools(ISS).

With our outreach in remote, difficultterrains, left-wing extremist affected

areas, it has become easier for the PSUs

who have their establishments in such

locations to partner with us. The Cor-

porates also want to earn goodwill of

the local communities and skill develop-

ment has proved to be a big boon to their

operations.

With Prime Minister Narendra

Modis new thrust on skill

development, does IL&FS have

new plans for expansion?

There is no proven management tech-

nique that will deliver a skilled India.

It would need new solutions and ap-

proaches, and that requires leadership

- both at the political level and within

the industry. We are happy to see the

political will building right from the

Prime Minster and are ready to support

his mission of attaining shram-ev jayteor

dignity of labour. We have already estab-

lished 38 institutes and are keen to ex-

pand ourselves, especially in the Middle

East and African countries, which alsoface the same demographic challenges

as ours.

The IL&FS Skills website mentions

that its aim is to train 4 million

people by 2022 under the Skills

Programmes for INclusive Growth

(SPRING). How do you plan to

achieve it?

We are one of the only training institu-

tions in the country to offer skills devel-

opment programmes to the entire learn-

er spectrum. We wanted to create an

institution which is able to cater to every

individual who wishes to get skilled and

does not have any entry barriers. With

this objective in mind, we rolled out six

different programmes including Skills

for Jobs, Skills Upgradation, Skills for

Good Governance, Skills at Schools &

Colleges, Skills for Trainers and Skills for

Entrepreneurship.

We have skilled 14,30,000 peopleon a pan-India basis. 4,00,000 of these

have been skilled through placement

linked programmes and are from Bottom

of Pyramid groups, and mostly school

drop-outs and 8th or 10th pass. Today,

49 per cent of our successful trainees

are women, largely from the backward

regions of the country.

As chairman of the FICCI Skill

Development Forum, how well do

you think is the industry geared up

for the skill development mission

considering that they too will

benefit out of it? What are their

concerns in this regard?

A few years back, we were discussing the

demand supply gap of trained man-

power. Today, with the presence of sev-

eral private training providers and affir-

mative government schemes, there has

been a considerable deluge in the avail-

ability of skilled and certified manpower.

However, the industry does not seem to

be creating jobs at the same pace to ab-

sorb the millions joining the labour mar-ket every day. There is also the problem

of large scale migration of labour which

has its own repercussions of labour up-

rising and increasing attrition rates.

Is industry adequately incentivised

to boost skill development?

Low incentives have been acting as a

dampener to the spirits of big corporate

houses which have been investing heav-

ily knowing the risks involved and the

slow returns on investment. A favour-

able investment climate with adequate

incentives through lower interest rates

for loans and relaxed taxation norms

will help the government boost private

sector participation in skills develop-

ment.

The National Skill Development

Corporation has been asked to

carry out skilling of 150 million

Indians by 2022. What shouldthe government and NSDC do to

achieve this target?

We need to build a skills development

model that is inclusive to achieve a Skills

for All agenda. The objective would

be to address the issues of relevance in

skill development in terms of Quantity,

Quality, Outreach, Equity and Systemic

reforms. There is also an urgent need to

mainstream skills formation in the for-

mal education system and, at the same

time, adopt innovative approaches for

skill creation outside the formal educa-

tion system.

We are happy to see the political will building

right from the Prime Minster and are ready to

support his mission of attaining shram-ev

jayate or dignity of labour

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