Skilled youth is nation's future

Last year, UNICEF estimated that by 2030, the country's working-youth population will exceed 96 crores, the highest number in the world, with 31 crore graduates. However, of the total applicants only half will have the skills required for employment.

Hyderabad:The latest report of the World Economic Forum (WEF) predicts the onset of the robot revolution earlier than expected due to the Coronavirus boom and says that by 2025 the nature of billions of jobs will change.

As a result of fast automation and digitization, billions of jobs are being transformed and up to ten crore new jobs will be created. While it is good news that due to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics, new job creation will be more than the jobs lost, however, the preparedness of the youth to grab them with both hands with the required skills is most essential.

The implications of the WEF analytical report are that the plans of the world nations need to be sharpened to the required extent!

Twenty sectors such as satellite services, electric vehicles, innovative antibiotics, Ed Tech, etc., are expected to change the world in the near future. To what extent will India benefit from such expanding opportunities?

Last year, UNICEF estimated that by 2030, the country's working-youth population will exceed 96 crores, the highest number in the world, with 31 crore graduates. However, of the total applicants only half will have the skills required for employment. Studies show that the number of people who lack required job skills is on the rise, and suggest that urgent corrective action is needed.

Though the new National Education Policy's slogan that 'quality education is the right of the student' is nice to the ears, the broad agenda of human resource mobilization to maximize its contribution to the country's development is yet to emerge as the main agenda of governments!

In place of the National Skill Development Strategy that was launched eleven years ago, the NDA government has unveiled the ‘Skill‌ India’ policy with the objective of transforming 40 crore people as highly skilled resources by 2022.

The Centre itself accepted that out of those who got trained in the first phase of the 'Koushal Vikas Yojana', only 24.17 per cent were able to get employment during 2016-2019.

The fact that of the 72 lakh trained candidates only about 15 lakh could settle in employment proves beyond doubt that the Skill India targets have badly missed the target. The two Telugu states have recently signed an agreement with the American company Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to improve the talents of up to 80,000 students until next year.

They have also teamed up with Microsoft and the National Skills Development Agency to impart digital skills to one lakh young graduates.

In India, where over one-third of the country's population is young people in the age group of 15-24 years, it is not possible immediately to shape them into skilled human resources.

A specialized system that periodically assesses the number of skilled human resources required in each field in the next five to ten years must be established and based on its research and recommendations appropriate courses must be designed.

Priority should be given to the basics of the language, mathematics, and science up to secondary level, limited to moral education and character development, and at the college level priority must be given to studies and skill sets useful for employment and nation-building.

While many companies attribute the unavailability of properly qualified skilled workers, it is a viable strategy to dispel the plight of postgraduates and doctoral candidates competing for minor jobs.

If education is transformed from time to time as a powerful tool to meet the emerging employment requirements, the country will be able to leap forward and take the lead with multifaceted development!