Skilling of youth must become a national movement: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu

Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu said on Wednesday that skilling of youth should become national movement and urged all stakeholders to participate in a mission- mode to accomplish this objective.

Speaking at the National Institute of Personnel Management Personnel (NIPM) 2019 conference on ‘India’s Changing Paradigm: Skills and Entrepreneurship for Global Competitiveness’ in Bengaluru on Wednesday, he pointed out that automation and artificial intelligence would greatly influence the requirements of the industry.

He said that while fundamental skills, like literacy, basic understanding of computer, internet, and communication skills were extremely relevant, it was equally important to anticipate the innovation and breakthrough processes required for the future and ensure the availability of high quality work force to meet the demands of different sectors.

Calling for a paradigm shift in the way people perceive skilling and entrepreneurship, he said a renewed focus on aspects such as ‘scale’ ‘speed’ and ‘quality’ was needed to make India competitive in the skill and entrepreneurship arena.

Urging educational institutions and academicians to inculcate the spirit of entrepreneurship right from school age, Naidu said “empower the youth to become job creators rather than becoming job seekers".

Stressing the need to eliminating digital and gender gaps and inequalities in knowledge acquisition, Vice President said that strong foundations must be laid to provide vocational and technical skills to rural youth. There is a need to have a good mix of formal education, off-the-job and on-the-job training.

Stating that nearly 54 percent of the Indian population was under 25 years and 65 per cent of population below 35 years, Vice President called for steps to encourage them to learn new technology and adapt to the changing technological requirements.

“Skill does not mean only knowing a task or performing a certain activity with precision. It is the willingness and readiness of the person to learn new things,” he added.

Naidu has said that creating a workforce with appropriate skilling was important to reduce unemployment, raise incomes, and improve standards of living. “It not only guarantees employment but also helps in the socio-economic development of people, especially women,” he added.

Calling for active participation of Industry, educational institutions and vocational training centers to realize the huge potential offered by various programs like Start-Up, Vice President asked the business leaders and HR leaders to mine talents as skilling assumed greater importance than ever before in the 21st century technology-dependent job market.

Naidu also suggested revamping the education system in a holistic manner from the primary school level to higher education with a greater focus on academia-industry interaction and enhancing the component of vocational training are crucial for creating a skilled workforce.