Digital Adda- Stairs to Skill
Do you have the Will to Skill?
Why am I asking this question? The question is relevant because nothing can hold you back if you have the will to get skilled.
Industry backed courses in emerging technologies, a talent connect portal where you can upload your skill certificates and get highlighted in front of recruiters, and government incentives along the way – all this in one platform – the FutureSkills Prime platform. A learner can leverage it if they are keen to skill.
This was discussed in one of the most interesting and insightful sessions till date in the SSC nasscom and FutureSkills Prime hosted series of thought leadership sessions called Digital Adda. Dr. Abhilasha Gaur, Electronics Sector Skills Council of India, (ESSCI) said that without the will of the learner, ecosystem efforts to skill would be fruitless. She asked, “Should we rename Skill India as Will India?”. The all-women panel, moderated by Kirti Seth, CEO, SSC nasscom, deliberated on ways to promote continuous learning and instil a will to upskill.
NEP2020
One right step in this direction is the NEP2020. In a single stroke, it brought skills into the mainstream, right alongside academics. Shifting from preventing students from dropping out, the vision transformed to skill students to make them employment ready. Dr Madhuri Dubey, Founder-Director of the National Skills Network-NSN, as a keen observer of the skilling landscape's growth trajectory, emphasized the significant achievement of NEP 2020 in integrating vocational education and work-integrated learning into academic courses.
It was the need of the hour as employers expect candidates to be skilled on foundational level of education. This may not be available in the regular curriculum which makes SSC short duration upskilling courses with high employability quotient, just what the doctor ordered!
Tech is all pervasive
If you think tech skills are only required for the IT sector, you need to have a rethink. Today technology is not just for techies; every person must embrace the foundation technical skills. Learners who are non- STEM also need to be aware of tech skills as it will lead to better employability, job satisfaction, better income because every organization is in some stage of tech adoption in their digital transformation journey. If you are not tech enabled, you will not find it easy to get a job. Analytics, web designing, marketing infused with tech, open more doors than you can imagine.
Skills @ Scale
Which brings us to the importance of skilling at scale.
Microsoft has upskilled one million students in AI in collaboration with SSC nasscom. Microsoft Future Ready internship program has benefitted 1.5 lakh students. Indrani Choudhury, Chief Learning Officer at Microsoft shared her secret recipe, the four Rs that have played a pivotal role in creating a positive impact on the skilling landscape.
- Relevant: Ensure the curriculum fulfills current and future needs and is aligned to Industry perspective and NEP2020
- Reach: Ecosystem participation is a must to reach the last mile and for maximum outreach
- Rigor: Projects and quizzes help learners apply knowledge; fair and transparent assessments and proctored certifications to check skill level
- Retention: The program has to be adaptive, blended, and provide mentoring and career coaching for 360-degree development
While Microsoft has successfully run skills@ scale programs in emerging tech skills, electronic system design and manufacturing is a different beast all together. From consumer electronics, LED, solar, drones, electric vehicles, nothing works without electronics. One of the roadblocks to skill in manufacturing is the heavy capex requirement, because of which workers in this industry tend to gravitate towards skilling in installation, after sales service repair and maintenance services. ESSCI is partnering with leading Industry partners like Daikin, Godrej, LG, Havells etc., on the place and train model of ESDM (Electronic System Design and Manufacturing) scheme. This effectively takes care of the capex bottleneck.
More Women on Auto Shop Floors
While women accounted for a mere 12% of India's industrial workforce in a 2021 survey, things are transforming for them as technology is transforming industrial production. Tata Motors has set a new diversity benchmark in the Indian automotive industry, with the assembly line at its Pune plant transitioning to an all-women assembly line where the company’s two flagship SUVs – Harrier and Safari – are assembled by women from scratch. About a decade back this would have been considered impossible. Thanks to relaxations in government rules and technology advancements, more and more women can now be seen working in factory set ups.
Kirti Seth, favored an ecosystem and process driven approach to stem leakages and make skilling outcomes visible.
To catch the interesting conversation, click here:
Written by Kaamna Jain