Challenges, Opportunities and Way Forward in Online Skill Training

PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) organized an interactive webinar on ‘Challenges, Opportunities, and Way Forward in Online Skill Training’. A panel discussion was conducted which discussed the challenges and the new opportunities, technology solutions and policy changes for promoting online skill training in the country with all the stakeholders of the Skill Development sector.

Mr. Charanjit Singh, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India delivered the keynote in the webinar. The keynote address was followed by a panel discussion.

In his keynote, Mr. Charanjit Singh, Joint Secretary (Skills), Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India said, “the Government will soon be coming out with the Guidelines for online skill training under DDUGKY and more than 2 lakh workers have already registered with DDUGKY since April this year, which we can target for reskilling and upskilling as per the industry need. There is tremendous demand for skill development in the country as the youth of India has aspirations to grow themselves towards a bright future.”

He also talked briefly about Deen Dayal Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) and discussed the developments and facilities provided in the Yojana that will help to impart skill training to the rural population.

Mr. Virendra Sharma, Director (Rural Skills), Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India discussed the projects of the ministry of rural development and how our programs are placed for rural development. He discussed Deen Dayal Grameen Kaushalya Yojana 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.

Ms. Joyeeta Das, Lead, Education and Skilling Initiatives, IBM India and South Asia mentioned that National education policy 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.

Ms. 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.

Mr. Venkatesh Sarvasiddhi, Senior Head-Digital Skills, Innovation, Industry Partnership and CSR, NSDC in his in-depth presentation gave an overview of the online education in Indian Education Market, its key growth drivers and challenges faced. He discussed the Industry 4.0 Skill Academy Framework and the future workforce that is pivotal for the growth of the country. He mentioned that the future workforce has to exhibit multiple skill sets for the job; needs to have cross-industry and public-private collaboration; enhanced decision-making and innovation which will lead to creating a culture of lifelong learning and investing in digital fluency and ICT literacy skills.

Mr. Ketul Acharya, Chief Operating Officer, Learnet Skills Ltd shared industry perspective and discussed the online skills eco-system and trainer’s capacity building and how private companies are training their teachers for online skill training. He also discussed the challenges faced by institutions for enabling online education and how institutions are overcoming the challenges and adopting online skill training for further growth of the industry.

Mr. Vishal Jindal, Chairman, PHD Chamber Skill and Entrepreneurship Development Committee in his welcome remarks deliberated about the importance of online skill training and the challenges faced by institutions and students in imparting and using online learning for skill development. The Webinar was also attended by Dr. R. K. Somany, Former President, PHDCCI, Chairman, IPSC and CMD HSIL Limited and Mr. Shashank Rastogi, Chairman, Chhattisgarh Chapter, PHDCCI

Dr. Rubina Mittal, Co-Chairperson, PHD Chamber Skill and Entrepreneurship Development Committee presented a formal vote of thanks to all the delegates and participants.

The session was moderated by Mr. Vivek Seigell, Principal Director, PHD Chamber. The session was supported by IBM and Edunet Foundation and received the participation of many industry stalwarts pan-India with 140 delegates.

Also read: Role of industry and government for skilled manpower: Post COVID-19 perspective https://nationalskillsnetwork.in/role-of-industry-and-government-for-skilled-manpower/