Skill reforms 2021: From more job-guaranteed courses to developing entrepreneurship skills

·         By ​Mr.Ankit Shyamsukha, CEO, ICA Edu Skills

At a time when the spotlight is completely on building India Aatmanirbhar, the youth of the country needs skill that makes them self-confident, self-reliant and also future ready. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led new education policy has been prepared keeping in mind the current needs of the education system. Our PM has recently emphasized that the second biggest focus after health in this year's budget is on education, skill, research and innovation. The higher education scenario is no doubt going through an exciting phase with the onset of new education policy and technological advancements.

According to a survey report by FICCI, at least 9 percent Indians will be in jobs that do not exist currently and 37 percent of the workforce will require radically changed skill sets to meet their employment demands. Therefore, skill development programs have to be robust so that the youth are well-equipped with the essential skills that are needed for lending a support and enhance the economy. More than 1.5 million schools across India had to shut down overnight owing to the Covid 19 pandemic throwing the children to a completely new world of digital education. Although in the post-pandemic ecosystem, digital education has been embraced, India still needs to work extensively to create the environment for blended learning. According to a UNICEF report, only 24 percent of Indian households have the internet to access e-education.

Here are some of the reforms which are the need of the hour:

More job-guaranteed courses

Finance and Accounts course continue to be the dominant ones

A report from US Bureau of Labor Statistics says the employment opportunities in financial and business occupations are expected to rise faster than all the other occupations between 2019 and 2029. More than 476,000 new jobs are expected to be added to the hundreds of thousands of positions already in place in these industries. So, for professional stability and rising opportunities both the courses offer diverse career path to pursue.

Academic institutions must collaborate with vocational institutes

Integrating academic institutions with vocational institutes enable the students and faculty members to have a richer, better and sequenced curriculum. This kind of curriculum provides them both practical and theoretical knowledge of the world. This also helps them to be future ready. The schooling experience also becomes unified. Even the faculty members need to be trained to the new teaching techniques that include activity-based learning, hands on problem solving skills and skills from various domains.  

More stress on presentation, business communication, and task management

At present companies are seeking for presentation, business communication and task management capabilities in the employees. Communication is a cornerstone of presentation and task management. In the digital world, it’s important that you exhibit your business ideas clearly to others. Business communication can be understood by comprehending five broad subjects – collaboration, public speaking, listening, nonverbal communication and written communication. A good business communication process lies in presenting out of the box ideas, executing decisions and successful selling of the products.