Skill development, as a recent Ibsa (India, Brazil, South Africa) conference in New Delhi deduced, is successful only when industry is an integral part of the initiative. Brazil had a clear notion of this very early. When the Latin American country was formed in 1942, import substitution was a priority for the fledgling nation. So a skill development programme was part and parcel of the nation building process. Thus born the National Service of Industrial Apprenticeship (Senai), a body created by the government but run by industry?through the national confederation of industries?as non-profit organisation. Senai had a key role in making Brazilian industries competitive. Its technical and technological trainings, apart from skilling its population, helped Brazil fight poverty, spur innovation and export industrial technology.
In fact, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had credited Senai for changing his life. In the early 60s, Lula underwent vocational training (the first in his family), which helped him get a job and a decent pay that helped him keep the wolf away from the door.
Senai has helped Brazil to upgrade worker skills as industry became more and more sophisticated. Senai today has 27 regional departments and 43 international partnerships with similar institutions in 30 countries, and has provided more 96,000 technical cosultancies last year. ?Senai provides training and technology to help industry by training people for jobs or showing ways of creating self-generating opportunities,? said Ricardo Rezende, secretary, national board of Senai.
Skill development is as well a focus area for South Africa, a nation that suffered the scourge of apartheid. Dupree Vilakazi, chief executive officer of Isidleke Holdings, South Africa, said: ?Large illiterate population is the biggest challenge before South Africa.? He said the South African government has enacted a National Skills Development Act to ensure development of skills of the workforce. A National Training Board has been established, with the task to develop a national training strategy.
According to NS Rajan, partner, business advisory services, Ernst & Young, ?It was the South Africans who started using the coinage ?skill development? frequently and brought it into wider acceptance.?
Relatively, India?s is laggard in skill development. At a recent global skills meet organised by CII, speakers from Australia, Germany and New Zealand stressed that strong industry leadership and engagement with skills training, qualification and assessment framework helped their countries. This, they said, was essential if training had to deliver job-level skills in an increasingly globalised world. In India as well, it is important to ensure equitable distribution and access to skill development opportunities.
Says Pooja Mehta, principal consultant, PricewaterhouseCoopers, ?With more and more MNCs setting up local operations and nurturing local talent to cater to their needs, it has become imperative for India to strongly collaborate with industry to prepare professionals who are readily employable. For example, in the upcoming animation and gaming industry, it is vital to understand the industry demands and update curricula and pedagogy to harness talent that is on par, if not better, than the global talent available.?
?India?s main strength?, Mehta adds, ?is a very robust education system, which, over the years, has tried to incorporate practical and professional aspects at higher education. The traditionally prevalent skills continue to be in demand, such as technical graduates and engineers, management professionals, technicians, researchers and specialists in various areas. However, what is also required are managers who can lead diverse teams in different parts of the world.?
According to P Rajendran, chief operating officer, NIIT, ?Right now, the great Indian liability?its population?is becoming the great Indian asset?India?s population has become a great asset today and the largest percentage of the population is young,? he said, giving an overview of the scenario on skills development in India at the summit. ?According to estimates, by 2020 India will have a surplus of 47 million people who will be ready to service the shortage which will be roughly the same in the world then,? he said. In this context, their level of skills will be very important.
English, of course, has been a great advantage for India, which has helped it emerge a global outsourcing giant.
But that?s not enough. The emergence of the services sector in India has refocused attention on vocational training. But vocational training is still not seen as a respectable thing to do ?after XII standard?. The creation of Skills Development Corporations would be a step in the right direction.
According to a report of CII?which was a co-sponsor of the third Ibsa Sunnit 2008 along with Assocham, Ficci, Business Unity South Africa (Busa) and Brazil?s National Confederation of Industry (CNI)?employability in today?s world is practiced as ?a shared responsibility of the individual employee on the supply side and employers on the demand side, along with the government as a mediating force?. The report mentions that there is a need to highlight and demonstrate ?employability? assets and present them to the market in an accessible way. Indeed, those who succeed are those who respond to rapidly changing job opportunities in the local markets.
Establishing linkages with other countries is also important. There are opportunities to exchange and learn from each other?s experiences in the emerging economies. The developing economies too can together share their strategies and initiatives launched to build the skill gaps identified in the workforce and develop a model which best suits their needs.
