Making India’s growing labour force employable

According to a joint study on skill development by IL&FS Cluster Development Initiative and Ficci, 156 million job opportunities will be thrown up by services sector and industry during 2006-2016.

The study, Skill Develpoment for Inclusive Growth: Perspectives and Strategies, to be released on Thursday, notes that during this period, 800 million people will fall in the productive age group requiring skills training. To meet the current inadequacies in the training delivery mechanism, it recommends several measures aimed at creating an enabling environment.

They include concerted interventions in policy space, regulatory aspects and institutional structure.

“There should be policy initiatives to liberalise and incentivise sources for expanding resource base for skill development. In addition, National Vocational Training System should go beyond ITIs and be inclusive in according recognition to PPP ventures in skill development,” says the study.

Multiple policies dealing in education and vocational training should be merged so as to facilitate easy entry and exit of persons choosing to move from formal education space into vocational education or trade training space and vice versa, the study says.