BackGovt to make skill certification mandatory for public sector jobs
Govt will stop funding training programmes that don't comply with its framework from 27 December 2016
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New Delhi: The government will make skills certification essential by 2020 before a person can apply for a public-sector or government job, a decision that could be difficult to implement.
“To get a government job, it is very important to have a NSQF (national skill qualification framework) certification and this is how the government is planning to move," skills minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy said on Thursday.
By 2020, “government advertisements would have NSQF requirements to get into government jobs," Rudy said while unveiling a skills gap report in 24 selected sectors ranging from automobiles to textiles.
“The recruitment rules of the government of India and PSUs (public sector undertaking) of the central government shall be amended to define eligibility criteria for all positions in terms of NSQF levels," the ministry said in a note. “The state governments and their PSUs shall also be encouraged to amend their rules on above lines."
The framework proposes to measure skills and accomplishments on a scale of one to 10, from entry to doctorate levels. The government will stop funding training and education programmes that are not NSQF compliant from 27 December 2016. The certification system will become mandatory two years after that.
That will leave candidates a buffer of just two years to acquire the desired certification level, which could prove to be a tough task.
The government’s decision to put in place a national certification framework is a practical and welcome move, said Narayanan Ramaswamy, partner and head of the education practice at consulting company KPMG.
Although there will be some teething issues, the government can achieve it, Ramaswamy said, pointing to the success of the mandatory teacher training courses and teacher eligibility tests for appointment. But he said, integrating vocational education with school and college education is critical for the proposed framework.
Nearly 1,900 schools are offering vocational programmes now and it has to be scaled up both at school and university levels, said Dilip Chenoy, chief executive of the state-run National Skill Development Corp.
The skills gap report said India’s labour market will expand to 578.62 million in 2022 from 459.46 million in 2013. Although 23 sectors would need more people by 2022, agriculture may see a reduction of 25 million between 2013 and 2022, the report said.
This requirement for additional people across sectors will be crucial in terms of skills training and helping India reap economic benefits, Rudy said. If the country wishes to achieve double-digit economic growth, skills will be key, the minister said, and expertise in manufacturing sector jobs will have to get special importance.
The ministry’s latest report will guide all government departments in taking up actionable projects on skill development and help in ensuring demand-driven, rather than supply driven, training to ensure employability, skills secretary Sunil Arora said.
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