Enormous demand for online skill training in India

New Delhi, Sep 9 (KNN) While emphasising skill development in the country, Charanjit Singh, Joint Secretary (Skills), Ministry of Rural Development said that there is tremendous demand for skill development as the youth of India has aspirations to grow themselves towards a bright future.

He said this during a webinar organized by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry on 'Challenges, Opportunities, and Way Forward in Online Skill Training'.

''We need to have out of the box thinking for imparting online skill training in the youth of India'', he told the Panellists and the delegates.

Singh also said that more than 2 lakh students have already registered with Deen Dayal Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), since April this year, which we can target for reskilling and upskilling as per the industry need.

Talking briefly about DDU-GKY, he discussed the developments and facilities provided in the Yojana that will help to impart skill training to the rural population. Singh also discussed that the most important aspect of skill training is its job training or working on the actual machines.

''In online skill training, this will become a challenge in which we have to find a solution to give practical online skill training,'' he added.

Singh mentioned that with the help of self-help groups, we are creating mobility for our candidates and we are going to increase the remuneration of community resource persons substantially. ''We need to have out of the Box Thinking for Imparting Online Skill Training in the Youth of India,'' he said.

Virendra Sharma, Director (Rural Skills), Ministry of Rural Development, discussed the projects of the ministry of rural development and how our programs are placed for rural development. He discussed DDU-GKY and Rural Self Employment Training Institute that is helping in imparting skills training to the rural population of India that will help them to elevate their livelihood and help in eradicating poverty from the country.

Talking about online training, he mentioned that the ministry has recognized its needs from the beginning. There are certain provisions we talk about in our guidelines like distance training, adopting innovative training methods, and others. We have the provision of mandatory tablets for training and giving IT training to learners as well.

''Our challenge in spreading online training in the rural youth is the unavailability of electronic devices, internet connectivity, more training of teachers and we are working diligently towards it,'' he added.

Joyeeta Das, Lead, Education & Skilling Initiatives, IBM India & South Asia mentioned that National Education Policy (NEP) has made it clear that each student has to learn at least one new skill at the end of their learning years coupled up with one particular sector. We need to learn, earn, exhibit, and leverage each other in learning something new apart from mainstream learning. We need government large scale partnerships; academic and education systems need to come together to implement this successfully.

''We need new innovative models and create updated content for imparting skills education for the development of the country, ‘she said.

Indrani Choudhury, Chief Learning Officer, Microsoft India discussed the need to public-private partnerships to make Indian youth skilled. Today's skill developments are the skill towards the future development of the country. The focus has to be on increasing Individual skilling, providing connectivity and increasing public-private partnerships.

''We need to use Artificial Intelligence, have innovative learning methods, and combine all the learning platforms into one so that there is a streamline flow of skill development in the youth,'' she asserted.