Govt to plug skill gaps with new policy

Girja Shankar Kaura

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 2

The government today approved the country’s first integrated national policy to develop skills and promote entrepreneurship at a large scale with speed and quality.

It also gave the nod to common norms for skill development schemes being implemented by the Centre as well as an institutional framework for the National Skill Development Mission.

The decisions were taken at a Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “The policy aims at aligning supply with demand, bridging existing skill gaps, promoting industry engagement, operationalising a quality assurance framework, leveraging technology and promoting apprenticeship to tackle the identified issues,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told mediapersons after the meeting.

He said the PM had launched programme on smart cities last week, on Digital India yesterday and the government had similar plans for “Skilling India”.

The National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship-2015 acknowledges the need for an effective roadmap for promotion of entrepreneurship as a key to a successful skills strategy.

“The vision of the policy is to create an ecosystem of empowerment by imparting skills on a large scale at a high speed and promote a culture of innovation-based entrepreneurship that can generate wealth and employment to ensure sustainable livelihoods for all citizens,” an official statement said.

The policy has four thrust areas, the statement said, adding that it addresses key obstacles to skilling, including low aspirational value, lack of integration with formal education, lack of focus on outcomes, low quality of training infrastructure and trainers.

“Equity is also a focus of the policy, which targets skilling opportunities for socially/geographically marginalised and disadvantaged groups. Skill development and entrepreneurship programmes for women are a specific focus of the policy,” the statement said.

In the entrepreneurship domain, the policy seeks to educate and equip potential entrepreneurs, both within and outside the formal education system.

It also seeks to connect entrepreneurs to mentors, incubators and credit markets, foster innovation and entrepreneurial culture, improve ease of doing business and promote a focus on social entrepreneurship.

The National Skill Development Mission will have a three-tiered, high powered decision-making structure.

At its apex, the mission’s governing council, chaired by the PM, will provide overall guidance and policy direction. The steering committee, chaired by minister in charge of skill development, will review the mission’s activities in line with the directions set by the governing council.

The Mission Directorate, with the Secretary, Skill Development as Mission Director, will ensure implementation, coordination and convergence of skilling activities across Central Ministries/Departments and state governments. It will also run select sub-missions in high-priority areas.

Further, the National Skill Development Agency, the National Skill Development Corporation and the Directorate of Training will function under the overall guidance of the Mission.