Why in news?

Over the past decade, India has built a massive skilling ecosystem, with the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana training about 1.40 crore candidates between 2015 and 2025.

However, skilling has not emerged as a preferred career pathway. Employability outcomes remain uneven. PLFS data show limited and inconsistent wage gains from vocational training—especially in the informal sector, where most trainees find work and certified skills bring little improvement in livelihoods.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Why Skilling Struggles to Attract Aspirations?
• Industry’s Limited Role in Strengthening Skilling
• Why Sector Skill Councils Are Underperforming?
• Skilling as a Driver of Long-Term Economic Growth
• Rethinking India’s Skills Strategy

Why Skilling Struggles to Attract Aspirations?

• Low Integration with Education Pathways - India’s GER is 28%, with a target of 50% by 2035 under NEP 2020. Achieving this requires embedding skilling within higher education, not expanding standalone vocational tracks.
• Limited Reach of Formal Training - Only about 4.1% of India’s workforce has formal vocational training, up marginally from 2% a decade ago—far below OECD levels where vocational enrolment is widespread.
• Global Comparison Gap - In OECD countries, 44% of upper-secondary students pursue vocational education, rising to 70% in several European economies, making skilling a mainstream choice.
• Weak Post-Degree Skilling Culture - The India Skills Report 2025 shows that graduates rarely pursue skilling after degrees, underscoring the need to align skilling with formal education systems.

Industry’s Limited Role in Strengthening Skilling

• High Industry Dependence on Skilled Labour - Industries face high attrition (30–40%), long onboarding periods, and productivity losses, making effective skilling economically critical for sectors like retail, logistics, hospitality, and manufacturing.
• Low Use of Public Skilling Certifications - Most employers do not rely on government skilling certificates for hiring, preferring internal training, referrals, or private platforms, limiting the value of public skilling programmes.
• Uneven Impact of Apprenticeships - While the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) has expanded participation, benefits remain uneven, especially among larger firms.
• Lack of Co-Design and Accountability - Industry is neither incentivised nor required to co-create curricula, standards, or assessments, keeping skilling disconnected from real labour-market needs.

Why Sector Skill Councils Are Underperforming?

• Original Mandate vs Reality - Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) were designed to anchor industry-led skilling—defining standards, ensuring relevance, and certifying employability. This core mandate remains largely unmet.
• Fragmented Accountability - Training, assessment, certification, and placement are handled by different entities, diluting responsibility and removing reputational or outcome-based accountability.
• Weak Employer Trust - SSCs’ certifications carry limited signalling value for employers, who prefer degrees or work experience. Standards exist, but hiring is rarely aligned to them.
• Contrast with Industry-Led Certifications - Global certifications (AWS, Google, Microsoft) succeed because certifiers own outcomes, conduct graded assessments, and risk their credibility—something SSCs lack.
• Need for Outcome Ownership - Unless SSCs are made accountable for employability and labour-market outcomes, certification will remain symbolic rather than economically meaningful.

Skilling as a Driver of Long-Term Economic Growth

• Accountability, Not Intent, Is the Core Gap - India’s skilling challenge stems from weak accountability rather than lack of funding or policy intent.
• Workplace-Embedded Skilling - Expanding apprenticeships under NAPS and integrating skilling into workplaces can rapidly improve job readiness at scale.
• Industry-Led Execution Models - Schemes like PM-SETU and ITI modernisation show the value of embedding industry ownership and responsibility into programme design.
• From Welfare to Economic Strategy - When skills are integrated into degrees, industry becomes a co-owner, and SSCs are accountable for placements, skilling transforms into a pillar of economic empowerment.
• Beyond Employment Outcomes - Effective skilling enhances dignity of labour, productivity, and enables India to convert its demographic advantage into sustained economic growth.

Rethinking India’s Skills Strategy

• Skills Must Translate into Better Pay - Vocational training cannot succeed unless wages and benefits reflect the skills acquired. Skilling policy must align training with sectoral competitiveness and worker aspirations.
• Shift to Demand-Led Training - Curricula should be guided by real-time labour market data, closer industry–institution coordination, and transparent job prospects to reduce skill mismatches.
• Remove Wage-Suppressing Constraints - Regulatory hurdles, finance and land access issues, corruption, and trade barriers limit firms’ ability to pay competitive wages. Skilling must be linked with broader industrial and regulatory reforms.
• Scale Placement-Linked Models - Training works best when combined with rigorous selection, quality instruction, and assured placement support through proven public-private partnerships.
• Make Skilling Aspirational - Only pathways that offer dignity, mobility, and clear career progression can shift India’s skilling ecosystem from headline numbers to real economic impact.