M Swapna, Teacher, Khammam – “Degree makes a person eligible for employment but opportunities come when he is skilled. Skill development centres must be established in every college to fill the gap between industry and college, skill development in students will make them reach great heights.”
Dr Chilumula Nageshwar Rao, Asst Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, KU, Warangal – “The development of skills can contribute to structural transformation and economic growth by enhancing employability and labour productivity.”
Ch Sri Laxmi Aparna, Employee, Khammam – “Education sector should give more importance in developing skills among students rather than the degrees obtained by the students.”
Gundu Venkateshwarlu, Social Worker, Nalgonda – “Students are forced to undergo short-term paid courses to get the placements in reputed MNCs and private industries. This type of education must be replaced by setting up skill training centres and campus interviews to realise the dreams of students.”
Coursera’s GSR shows Cloud Computing as Indians’ strongest skill, data sciences skills need improvement
Coursera, a leading online learning platform, recently released the Global Skills Report (GSR) 2022 which revealed that although Indian learners have proved Cloud Computing to be their strongest skill with 76% proficiency, they still lag behind in skills for data science. With 15.7 million Indian users on Coursera, India ranks 56th in the tech domain globally from the 66th rank in 2021 but has gone four spots to 68th rank in proficiency for overall skills. Indian learners have scored low on Data Visualization, Statistical Programming, Data Management, and other foundational as well as specialized data science skills which leads to a 12-rank drop. The Managing Director for Coursera for India and APAC, Raghav Gupta, said, “This year’s GSR signals a significant need for Indian learners to bridge the critical skills gap, especially in data science, to ensure this digital potential does not turn into a lost opportunity.”
Chandigarh Administration has its task cut out, vocational education to 50,000 children by 2025-26
The Ministry of Education has set a target of providing 50,000 students of Chandigarh with vocational education by 2025-26 under the Samagra Shiksha five-year Perspective Plan, having 20,000 students complete vocational courses, 25,000 students from Grade 9 to 12 enrolled in vocational courses, and an additional 25,000 students from the upper primary being exposed to vocational education. This ‘vocationalisation’ of school education aims to equip students to be employable by the time they graduate. As of now, 106 Chandigarh government schools are carrying out activities for vocational education exposure, receiving an outlay of Rs15.9Lacs for industry visits, workshops, and interactive sessions.
NSDC partners Avanse Financial Services to enable financial solutions
In order to support the youth of the country with financial solutions in receiving skill-based or vocational education that are affordable, easy, and quick, the NSDC and Avanse Financial Services, a Non-Banking Financial Company, are collaborating to provide aspirants with customised financing solutions to contribute to the growing demand of skilled workforce in the country. “Skill Development is extremely crucial as it can contribute to structural transformation and economic growth by enhancing employability and labour productivity,” said Amit Gainda, CEO and MD of Avanse Financial Services, at the commencement of this collaboration. Adding to this, Ved Mani Tiwari, the Chief Operating Officer and Officiating CEO of the NSDC, said, “Access to finance is critical for democratisation of educations and skills. Partnerships with NBFCs like Avanse help NSDC move one step closer towards its core purpose – Skills4All, Anytime, Anywhere.”
