Skills Education  

Indian Skill Development Service

The Indian Skill Development Services (ISDS) is a new central government service that has been created especially for the training directorate of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. It is a Group ‘A’ service and is expected to give a big push to the government’s skilling initiatives by drastically enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of the various schemes in this domain. The qualifying exam for this service is the Indian Engineering Service Exam conducted by the UPSC. The idea behind the ISDS is to attract young and talented people into the skill development domain and make skilling initiatives successful in the country.

National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015

The chief objective of this policy is to match the challenge of skilling at scale with speed, standard (quality), and sustainability. It aims to offer an umbrella framework to all skilling activities carried out within India, to align them to common standards and connect skilling with demand centres. In addition to laying down the objectives and expected outcomes, the policy also identifies the overall institutional framework which will act as a means to achieve the expected results. 

Features of Skill India

There are many features to the Skill India Mission that make it different from the previous skill development missions.

  • The focus is on improving the employability of the youth so that they get employment and also enhances entrepreneurship among them.
  • The mission offers training, guidance, and support for all traditional types of employment like weavers, cobblers, carpenters, welders, masons, blacksmiths, nurses, etc.
  • New domains will also be emphasised on such as real estate, transportation, construction, gem industry, textiles, banking, jewellery designing, tourism, and other sectors where the level of skill is inadequate.
  • Training imparted would be of international standards so that India’s youth get jobs not only in India but also abroad where there is demand.
  • An important feature is the creation of a new hallmark ‘Rural India Skill’.
  • Customized need-based programmes would be started for specific age groups in communication, life, and positive thinking skills, language skills, behavioral skills, management skills, etc.
  • The course methodology would also not be unconventional and would be innovative. It would involve games, brainstorming sessions, group discussions, case studies, and so on.

Why does India need a skills development programme?

As of a 2014 report, India’s formally skilled workforce is just 2%. Additionally, there is a huge problem of employability among the educated workforce of the country. Lack of vocational or professional skills makes it difficult for the youth to adapt to changing demands and technologies of the marketplace. The high level of unemployment is due to the failure to get jobs and also due to a lack of competency and training.

  • A study by the Skill Development Council (NSDC) indicates that there will be a need for around 12 crores of skilled manpower by 2022 across 24 key sectors.
  • Casual workers, who constitute about 90% of the labour force, are poorly skilled as they do not get adequate training. Current vocational training programmes do not meet their demands.
  • There is a problem of social acceptability when it comes to vocational education. Vocational courses are looked down upon and this needs to change.
  • Another factor that acts as an obstacle to skill development in India is the myriad labour laws. However, the government has started simplifying and codifying the labour laws. With simpler laws, practicing skill development should be easier.
  • Changing technology is a big challenge and opportunity for the labour force. Employees will have to constantly upgrade their skills if they are to remain relevant in the job market.
  • There is a problem with the lack of infrastructure in the current training institutes.
  • Another problem is the poor quality of trainers available. Students trained by such trainers are not employable in the industry.
  • There is a big issue with the standardization of skills in the country. New schemes are designed to resolve this issue by having nationwide standards that also stand up to international benchmarks.

Skilling is important because of the following factors:

  1. Demographic dividend: Most major economies of the world have an aging population. India, with a favorable demographic dividend, can grab this opportunity and serve the manpower market. But, for this adequate skilling is to be provided to up the employability. To capitalize on this, there is only a narrow demographic window, that of a few decades.
  2. The percentage of the workforce receiving skill training is only 10% in India which is very small compared to other countries – Germany (75%), Japan (80%), South Korea (96%).
  3. Sectoral mobilization: As productivity improves in agriculture due to increased mechanization, there will be fewer people required in the farming sector. There will thus be a shift from this sector to other secondary and tertiary activities.