Much has been said about India’s potential demographic dividend, where much of its population — 62 per cent — is 15 to 59 years of age, and more than half are under 25 years of age. Political leaders — none more so than Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who made it a key campaign promise — have also acknowledged that India’s education system is failing its young, and that the country could fritter away this opportunity if it does not properly train the huge numbers of young people who enter the workforce each year. Already, there is a gap between the demand for skilled labour and its supply. Studies find that the lakhs of students coming out of colleges and universities are ill-equipped to meet the requirements of a modern economy, falling behind when competing in an increasingly global and interlinked job market. Central to the government’s plan to rectify this situation is the proposed national policy for skill development and entrepreneurship, expected to be finalised soon.
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Another important aspect of a successful skill development policy is the creation of pathways that allow people to transition in and out of school or training programmes and the labour market as required, by, for instance, enabling school dropouts to enter the education system again. That means mobility between certificates, diplomas, associate degrees and full degrees. It is not enough to pay lip service to the idea; the government must establish institutional mechanisms to facilitate this without placing unnecessary hurdles along the way.
