The government is considering introduction of a rights-based legislation for skill training in India, in line with those in Germany and South Korea, a move that will give legal heft to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship programme, the Skill India Mission.
The next step in skill development would be to back it with an act that entitles millions of youth entering the workforce a right to be skilled, said a senior government official. “This will make skill training enforceable, which in turn will significantly improve the employability of the Indian workforce,” the official added.
According to the official, every country with a fully developed vocational education training system has a law guiding it.
“We definitely need a law to regulate such a diversified skilling ecosystem in the country. However, we waited all this while because we wanted the system of skilling to mature a bit before it gets covered under a law,” the official said, requesting anonymity because the skill development ministry is still studying the idea.
About 12 million youth enter India’s workforce every year, although a large chunk of them is unemployable because of poor proficiency, which is why skill enhancement is a key thrust area for the government.
After coming to power in 2014, the NDA government formed a dedicated ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship.
This was followed by the launch of the Skill India mission in 2015 targeting the training of more than 400 million people in different skills by 2022. However, barely 40 million people have been trained by various stakeholders since then, including 25 million by the ministry of skill development.
The idea of a rights-based legislation for skill development was first mooted by a high-level sub-group of chief ministers, headed by then Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal, under Niti Aayog.
The sub-group was of the view that a rights-based legislation backed by robust implementation would generate greater demand, remove the low esteem attached to vocational education and encourage more young people to seek skill training.
Note: News shared for public awareness with reference from the information provided at online news portals.
