Bridging the Skill Gap in India: Challenges and Solutions

Abstract

The globalised world demands vocational skilled manpower to convert growth opportunities into jobs and
stable incomes. With millions of new job-seekers entering the job market every year, vocational skill
development has become one of India's urgent priorities. Skill development is key for fostering Make in
India initiative of government of India and entrepreneurship development in India to reap the potential
demographic dividend of India over the next few years. The present paper attempts to study the present skill
capacity, need of skill development in India, review the skill development policies, challenges for Skill
development along with their solutions. The paper studied the relationship between education, employment
and Skill development. The study also found that both the Government and its partner agencies have
undertaken various measures/initiatives for the effective implementation of the Skill development system in
the country, but there are big challenges which needs quick resolution.
A survey (random survey) method was employed to elicit primary information from 100 students who took
STAR training from different NSDC partners in Lucknow. The findings seek to answer some basic questions.
Are the youths being really mobilized to be skilled outside the formal education system? Is the training
delivery mechanism good enough to make the students employable? Would the industries be willing to cut
down the minimum qualification criteria to promote skill development .A questionnaire based on as random
sampling, was employed for data collection. Data analysis was accomplished using simple weighted
average and percentage method.