I
attended a SKILL SUMMIT, organized by CII at Bangalore, a few years back. There
were renowned speakers from different industries, government agencies and
training field as well, who threw light on the subject “shortage of skilled
labour.“ Some interesting points emerged out of the summit.
According
to a Survey, it says that, in the year 2020, the world will face a shortage of
57million skilled workers and only India and China, because of its huge
population would have the capacity to cater to this demand. However, the irony is as of now, only 10% of
the India’s workforce comes under the category of skilled workers. This is
comparatively very low, to most countries were 60 to 80% are skilled work
force. Korea tops the list with 96%.
The
greatest strength of India today is that, we have about 55% of the population
who are below the age of 30, but the big question is what type of aspirations
these students have? A good number of graduates pass out of Indian colleges
every year, but still there seems to be a shortage of skilled work force in the
country or rather there is a mismatch of the needed talent versus the available
human resource, and hence the gap. Now, how do we bridge the gap?
Let
us say you go to a high school and ask the students there, what they want to
be. You would find that 7 out of 10, would either say engineer or doctor, and
the other 3 would say something different such as a lawyer, policeman, teacher,
pilot and so on. This is a clear indication that a majority of our students are
glued to the idea that no other profession is worth pursuing.
It
is either the influence of the parent, teacher or society that plays a strong
role in his decision process. It is not a matter of willful choice, but a
matter of acceptable choice. Now we talk about shortage of technical workforce
like the mechanic, electrician, plumber, welder, gardener, carpenter etc.
In
advanced countries like USA, Europe, Japan and Australia, 80 to 90% of the
youth opt for Vocational Educational Training, whereas in India the number of
students who opt for vocational training is very low. In India, there is not
much emphasis laid on this, in our current system of education. In India today,
an ITI Student is looked down upon and does not get due respect. This attitude
has to change. If this attitude continues, the country would witness a steady
increase of unemployable graduates, in the days to come. With the migration of
hand skilled workers to knowledge workers, we are in a crisis.
It
is recommended that students should be exposed to vocational training right
from their 6th Std. They have to learn to work with tools. Tools,
like toys may fascinate their interest. This may create an interest for them to
pursue a vocational training of their chosen field of interest, rather than
having to restrict to conventional academic choices. The parents have to play a
supportive role by accepting the choice of their children, rather than trying
to brand them to a desired profession.
It
may be a surprise for you to know that only 7% of the Indian working population
is educated up to Xth Std. The balance 93%, are either less educated or
uneducated. But it is this 93% who work in the farmlands cultivating the food
we eat, the weavers who make the dress to wear, and construction labourers who
build the houses, we live in.
Let
us treat everyone’s job with respect and consider no job a mean job. Let us be
grateful to them and treat them with dignity. Just imagine, if not for them,
what would we do?
Happy Reading,
D. Senthil Kannan
Article
Dated Jul 2008
