Skilling for Jobs in New Economy to Require Flexible Approach, Life-long Learning

Covid-19 was a black swan event. Its impact was profound and wide ranging. The pandemic has altered norms and redefined how people live, work, and interact with one another. Technological innovation is increasingly defining the way we learn, shop, entertain ourselves and work. The employment landscape has felt this impact. Key trends include the resurgence of the gig economy, which has well and truly picked momentum.

India's colossal gig economy currently employs around 13 million people, as our country has emerged as one of the biggest centers of gig economy jobs. India's gig economy will employ 90 million people over the next decade. Sectors like construction, manufacturing, retail, and transportation and logistics are expected to provide over 70 million of gig economy jobs. Additionally, the gig economy is already making an impact across sectors such as textiles, civic supplies (electricity, gas, and water), banking and financial services, IT and ITes, education, personal services, and even real estate. More and more large corporates are opening to the gig economy and are toying with the idea of flexible hiring options.

What all of this means for workers is that gig economy jobs are not only here to stay, but they are also expanding fast and across various sectors. These jobs include everyone from doctors, engineers, and lawyers to freelance copywriters, beauticians, mechanics, and plumbers. The wide ambit of gig-economy jobs necessitates learning that is flexible and continuous. Flexible learning can meet emerging requirements for skill sets. Life-long learning is the process of learning new skills throughout one's life. These attributes will define the gig economy and will be key for an overwhelmingly large chunk of gig economy workers – fitness trainers, travel guides, graphic designers, teachers, writers, artists, and even music producers.

The increasing sophistication of jobs in the gig economy would mean that the acquisition of twenty first century skills like communication, information literacy, technology literacy, creativity, and critical thinking will become vital. These are skills we ought to be teaching our students en masse. That would require, among other things, a change in pedagogy.

In this regard, the New Education Policy is a definite step in the right direction. It emphasizes the need for students to learn and hone skills like critical thinking, collaboration, with a particular focus on improving social skills and productivity. In fact, the New Education Policy underlines 10 bagless days for students of Class VI-VIII so they can get exposed to the world. On these days, students can be taken to a nearby dairy or a factory, a museum, jungle trail or even a supermarket. Today, some Indian universities offer courses on how to become a museum curator or a tour guide or even work at an automobile factory. The UGC’s framework now allows skilling modules to be embedded into the curriculum, with institutes even offering specialized Bachelor in Vocation (BVoc) degrees.

Some states are taking the lead in implementing the skilling agenda in the right earnest. The Madhya Pradesh administration is overseeing the rather successful implementation of welfare schemes like the Mukhyamantri Awas Sahayata Yojana, the Kanya Saksharta Protsaahan Yojana, and the Vimukt Jati Hostel Yojana to provide tribal students housing, food, and scholarships and ensure they learn, upskill, and become ‘atmanirbhar’ (self-reliant). The state administration has also directed education institutes to implement the New Education Policy in letter and spirit. The establishment of the Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University in 2020, by the Government of NCT of Delhi was also a significant step in promoting skilling of youth.

Civil society organizations have also taken it upon themselves to skill underprivileged youth, so they are able to find their feet. I have witnessed the work of Smile Foundation, a pan-India organization imparting training in 21st century skills to young people through its Smile Twin e-learning Program. So far, 47,000 youth have been trained through the e-learning program and 28,000 have been placed in 200 brands through 95 operational projects across India. The Foundation also runs Project Manzil, an employability training program which has skilled over 14,000 underprivileged girls and enabled on-the-job training for another 5,000 girls.

Way Forward

Industry connect and exposure are crucial for effective skill development. What we require is increased collaboration between industry, academia, and government to ensure more and more Indians can acquire job-relevant skills easily and that they are able to do so throughout their working lives. The ability to re-skill and upskill will be paramount. The Prime Minister of India has said our country will lead the fourth Industrial revolution by supplying skilled workforce to the world. The onus is upon us to deliver on this vision. Actualizing this vision will require the combined efforts of the state, corporates, academia, and civil society organizations. All these stakeholders will have to bridge the trust deficit and work together to devise targeted interventions for skilling, reskilling, and upskilling India’s large population.

                    ---Dr. Aatish Parashar, Dean and Head, Central University of South Bihar