Education has always been about more than preparing someone for a job. It helps people build knowledge, develop capabilities, make choices and understand the world around them. As the world of work changes, however, the connection between what people learn and how they eventually use that learning is becoming increasingly important.
For learners, this journey can move through classrooms, training programmes, workplaces and further learning, often crossing several of these boundaries along the way.
Against this backdrop, NITI Aayog’s Reimagining Skilling for Viksit Bharat@2047 looks at how India’s skilling ecosystem can evolve to meet the needs of a changing economy and workforce. The report takes a system-wide look at India’s skilling ecosystem and sets out five core reforms and four system enablers. It notes that more than 7.67 crore individuals have been trained since 2014-15, while the Union Budget for FY 2025-26 allocated ₹34,000 crore in skilling-related expenditure across multiple Central Ministries, according to the report.
The scale of the effort is significant. The next opportunity is to consider how this ecosystem can continue to evolve with the changing needs and aspirations of learners and the world of work.
The significance of the report lies not simply in what it recommends, but in how it connects with a way of thinking about education and skills that we at NSN have been advocating for over the years: learning should ultimately help people build the capabilities to navigate work and life. The report gives us an opportunity to take that thinking further and examine what it will take to translate this vision into practice.
Starting the skilling journey earlier
One of the directions highlighted in the report is bringing greater exposure to employability and vocational learning into the school years.
NITI Aayog notes that fewer than one in 12 secondary schools offer vocational subjects. It proposes General Employability and Entrepreneurship Skills (GEES) from Grade 6 through Grade 12, along with Kaushal Tracks from Grade 9 onwards for structured vocational pathways.
For Grades 6 to 8, the report proposes exposure to different vocations before students move towards more structured vocational pathways. This is an important distinction. Early exposure does not have to mean early specialisation. It can give learners an opportunity to become familiar with different forms of work and understand the possibilities available to them.
For NSN, we think this is a constructive direction. Skilling does not have to enter a learner’s journey only when they are preparing to enter employment. Awareness and exposure can begin earlier, helping learners develop a broader understanding of the world of work alongside their education.
The objective is to help learners see more clearly how their learning can connect with the world around them.
Strengthening the connection between learning and work
The report identifies challenges in connecting learning with workplace requirements, including overly theoretical learning, limited practical exposure, limited proof of work and gaps in job-readiness support. It also notes that industry-integrated programmes, internships and apprenticeships in higher education remain uneven. This gives greater relevance to its emphasis on work-based learning.
Under “Apprenticeship for All,” NITI Aayog proposes repositioning apprenticeships as a mainstream pathway connecting learning and work. The report identifies fragmented opportunities and limited awareness among the challenges and calls for stronger systems to support apprenticeship participation.
There is value in giving learners opportunities to encounter real work while they are still learning. An apprenticeship, internship, industry project or other applied experience can help learners understand how knowledge is used in practice and gain a better sense of workplace expectations.
The quality of that experience matters as much as its availability. Work-based learning becomes meaningful when it is connected to what learners are studying and gives them genuine opportunities to observe, participate and learn.
This is also where skill integration becomes relevant. Academic learning does not have to become vocational for students to benefit from application and practical exposure. The aim can simply be to create stronger connections between what is taught and how that knowledge can be used.
Also read: Skill Integration for Enhancing Employability: What Can Faculty Do Differently?
Degrees and skills do not have to be opposites
The current conversation around employability can sometimes create a choice between degrees and skills. The NITI Aayog report’s discussion of skills-first approaches is relevant here. It identifies degree-based hiring norms as one of the factors that can limit the adoption of skills-first hiring, while also highlighting the importance of demonstrating skills and capabilities.
This does not mean that degrees have become irrelevant. A degree provides structured learning and disciplinary knowledge. Skills can help learners apply that knowledge. Practical experiences can add context to what has been learned. The opportunity is to strengthen these elements rather than position them differently.
This is the broader value of skill integration. It does not require academic programmes to become vocational. It encourages learners to connect what they know with what they can do. That is a more constructive conversation than simply asking whether degrees or skills matter more.
Looking beyond training numbers
The number of people trained is an important measure of the scale of a skilling system. It does not, however, tell us everything about what that learning achieves.
The report places emphasis on outcomes and proposes outcome-based financing, including approaches linked to verified outcomes such as placements and wage gains. It also recognises the need to design such mechanisms carefully so that learners who may be harder to place are not disadvantaged.
This brings greater attention to what happens after training. Employment is one outcome. But progression, earnings and the ability to continue developing one’s capabilities can also tell us more about the value created by learning.
A skilling system that measures outcomes alongside participation can therefore build a fuller picture of its impact. The shift is subtle but important: training becomes a means to an outcome, rather than the outcome itself.
From policy direction to practice
The report’s recommendations span schools, higher education, skilling institutions, employers and government. Their implementation will therefore depend on how these different parts of the ecosystem work together.
NITI Aayog places an important role with States as anchors of transformation, recognising that implementation will need to respond to local labour markets, infrastructure and workforce needs. It also calls for stronger industry participation and coordination among government, industry, academia and training providers.
New approaches will require institutions that are equipped to deliver them, educators who have the necessary support, employers willing to participate meaningfully, and systems that can connect different learning and employment pathways.
The report provides a broad framework. Its effectiveness will ultimately depend on the capacity to translate that framework into consistent experiences for learners across very different contexts.
Looking at skilling as a learning journey
The NITI Aayog report brings several parts of India’s skilling ecosystem into the same conversation: early exposure, vocational pathways, apprenticeships, skills-first approaches, industry participation and outcomes.
What connects these ideas is a broader understanding of how people prepare for work. Learning does not become useful only when a certificate is awarded. Its value can also emerge through application, experience and the ability to use what has been learned in different situations.
This is consistent with the way we at NSN have been looking at skill integration: not as a replacement for education, but as a way of making learning more connected to application and capability.
The report gives this conversation a significant policy context. The opportunity now is to see how its proposed direction can translate into meaningful experiences and outcomes for learners, while creating stronger connections between the different stages of their education and skilling journey.
