education and skill development

N a t i o n a l v i s i o n D o c u m e n t

Inspired by Prof. C K

Prahalad

Education and SkillDevelopment

• India achieves 100% functional literacy – every Indian can read and write

• India builds a 700 million strong globally employable workforce, including 200 million university graduates and

500 million skilled people

• India develops world class infrastructure to become a global hub for knowledge creation, talent development

and entrepreneurial incubation

• India sets global standards and becomes a scale provider of values based learner-centric education, skills

development and professional educators through industry partnerships

14 The Boston Consulting Group - Confederation of Indian Industry - Young Indians

India achieves 100% functional literacy – every

Indian can read and write

The one dream that unites all of India, everyone every-

where, is that of 100% literacy. Every man, woman and

child should be able to acquire reading, writing and com-

putational skills for effective day to day living (functional

literacy). To achieve this, there is an urgent need to

broaden the currently accepted definition of literacy.

Education must become more affordable and accessible in

order to realize this vision. If we can ensure that the

poorest families in the remotest village can send their kids

to school, we can bring about a revolutionary change in

the country. Schools can become centres of rural

renaissance and contribute in many ways to making our

villages more vibrant and economically active.

Our target should be to establish at least one primary

school within reach of each village and to ensure that

every child in the age group of 6-14 years is enrolled and

stays in these schools. This will guarantee that each child

is exposed to better opportunities, which in turn will

translate into a healthier, prosperous, more involved and

Voices of India

“100% education: affordable, accessible, ac-countable”

“Market mechanisms to ensure equal oppor-tunities for all”

“Compulsory & quality primary education for all children”

“Adult education to be encouraged through night schools”

“100% enrolment for all students in age group between 6 to 14 years”

“0% dropout till class 10”

more productive population.

Exhibit 1. Enrolment rates are high at the primary stage but high dropout ratios are the bigger concern

Source: Annual Report 2007-08, Department of school education, Govt of India

India@75 – The Peoples‚

agenda 15

People also envision a more inclusive education system equipped to deal with the requirements of children with special needs. Special efforts are needed to attract and retain children from poor backgrounds and discriminated segments such as girls. Government schemes like the ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme) and Mid-day Meals are a good start to ensure that every child has access to fundamental health, education and develop-ment.

We need to move from 65%

literacy to 100%; that’s almost

400 million people waiting to

learn how to read and write

Some of the challenges that need to be overcome include: Malnutrition, the pressure on children to enter the work-force, older children being forced to take up domestic chores. As India moves into the 21st century, we need to ensure that our country stands on firm foundations of educated and empowered youth. This means that we need to move from 65% literacy to 100%; that’s almost 400 million people waiting to be educated on basic literacy.

India builds a 700 million strong globally employable workforce, including 200 millionuniversity graduates and 500 million skilled people

Most of India’s population of 1.2 billion is young. With almost 60% of the population (700 million) in the work-ing age group, we have a demographic advantage waiting to be exploited. People across the country realize the immense opportunity that exists in equipping our work-force with the necessary knowledge and skills to make them globally employable. This can provide the necessary drive for our manufacturing and services sec-tors to gain leadership in the world. Imagine a country of 200 million university graduates trained in fields like engineering, medicine, law and management – a group capable of analytical thought who have comeout of a system which promotes experiential learning. We have the potential to make this a reality.

Our education system must be transformed to adapt to the

changing needs of society. Experiential learning must be

emphasized rather than rote memorization which is

Voices of India

“Vocational colleges based on local require-ments facilitating employment & entrepre-neurship”

“Specialization from class 10th for job orient-ed education”

“National / uniform career counselling at standard 7-8 level”

“Skill development / professional education to be made more affordable”

“100% gainful employment”

prevalent in even the best of schools in our country. Individual learner-centric learning systems designed to allow each person to choose his / her own learning path can help ensure that our system produces many individuals who can lead thought and spur innovation.

Additionally, we have the capacity to become the world’s

largest hub of vocationally trained people. Nearly 40% of

our population (500 million) comprises of people who can

potentially be trained and certified with globally ac-cepted

standards. It may not be too far in the future that Indian

construction workers, for example, are flown in to build

bridges in the US or entire cities in Africa because the

world realizes their skill level and professionalism.

For this vision to become a reality, our system should create opportunities for pursuing vocational education rather than encourage a mindless rush for degrees. Along with graduate education, a parallel stream of vocational education could be introduced to open up immediate employment and entrepreneurial options. To promote vocational education, we can introduce job oriented courses at school level, provide early counseling, flexibility to switch between graduate and vocational streams and increase social acceptance of entrepreneurial ventures.

Every year, about 15 million people enter the workforce

but most are unemployable as less than 5% have under-

gone vocational training and only about 13% consist of

graduates and post-graduates. The majority is illiterate or


Exhibit 2. Less than 25% of people joining thebe graduates or vocationally trained

Source: India’s Demographic Dilemma, BCG (2008)

school drop-outs. It is critical that various industries get involved in sharing the high cost of training and conduct-ing remedial courses for disadvantaged sections of society. Even while creating vocational capacity, we need to be aware of the tremendous diversity of vocational skills. A comprehensive mapping of skills to industry requirements must be done to identify the high priority areas. A qualification and credits framework also needs to be put in place to enable a seamless transition between institutions as well as between graduate and vocational education systems. We will also need to evolve market based standards and national standards of certification if we wish to improve the quality of our institutions.

India develops world class infrastructure to become a global hub for knowledge creation, talent development and entrepreneurial incubation

As India moves towards becoming a developed nation, the

ability to create and disseminate knowledge will become a

major determinant of success. With increasing demand for

higher education, we possess the potential to


agenda

Exhibit 2. Less than 25% of people joining the workforce over the next 5 years will be graduates or vocationally trained

India’s Demographic Dilemma, BCG (2008)

outs. It is critical that various industries get high cost of training and

ing remedial courses for disadvantaged sections of society. Even while creating vocational capacity, we need to be aware of the tremendous diversity of vocational skills. A comprehensive mapping

rements must be done to identify the high priority areas. A qualification and credits framework also needs to be put in place to enable a seamless transition between institutions as well as between graduate and vocational education

ed to evolve market based standards and national standards of certification if we wish to improve the quality of our institutions.

India develops world class infrastructure to become a global hub for knowledge creation, talent development

As India moves towards becoming a developed nation, the

ability to create and disseminate knowledge will become a

major determinant of success. With increasing demand for

higher education, we possess the potential to

“Institutes of international repute focusing on research”

“At least one professional college in every taluka”

“Better pay to scientists and PhD holders”

“Increase of faculty size and graduate programs by 100 %”

“Increase national institutes (IITs, IIM

“World class universities as well as facilities”

become the world’s leading knowledge provider and home

to the world’s best talent. Knowledge can become the

springboard for India’s growth in the 21st century.

workforce over the next 5 years will

Voices of India

“Institutes of international repute focusing on research”

“At least one professional college in every

“Better pay to scientists and PhD holders”

“Increase of faculty size and graduate pro-grams by 100 %”

“Increase national institutes (IITs, IIMs)”

“World class universities as well as facilities”



springboard for India’s growth in the 21st century.

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To accomplish this, there should be greater access to higher education and more colleges and universities need to be established within reach of each district. These in-stitutions should be of international standards and focus on delivering academic and professional excellence. Graduate programs which cater to various streams of education apart from engineering and medicine and promote talent in the field of arts should be introduced. Can 30 of our Indian universities make it to the list of top 100 universities of the world by 2022?

People wish to see a focus on leading research so that we

can be at the forefront of new knowledge services and

contribute more to the world’s scientific advancement in

the form of research publications and patents. Today, only

a few institutions in the country can boast of world class

infrastructure and output. All Indian institutions can

potentially be among the best in the world if we are able to

provide incentives like globally competitive compensation

for researchers and develop methods to recognize and

reward excellence. Today, some of the most respected

faculty and recognized management thinkers

abroad are Indians. A supportive envi-ronment will enable us to not just retain our brightest minds but also attract the best from all over the world.

In the business domain, Indian leaders are already making their mark globally by taking up leadership at a number of multi-national companies. However, many of them chose to be educated abroad. We should aim to provide quality management education that is at par with the best colleges in the world. While a few institutes have achieved global quality, there is a need for may more to do so. All our management and technical institutes should encourage entrepreneurial activity by setting up incubation centres to provide guidance and funding to budding entrepreneurs.

Experts have called for multiple independent accredita-

tion systems for educational programs at all

levels to tackle the poor standards of our institutions.

This will provide credible information to institutions encouraging them to upgrade their infrastructure and

quality of courses and to adopt certain minimum standards.

There is a need for an independent regulatory body for educational institutions which creates appropriate entry norms for private / foreign institutions, fosters account-ability and promotes innovation in education. This will encourage greater private participation. India possesses the potential to become the educational centre of the world. Retaining our high quality talent and building excellent educational infrastructure should be our focus to actualize this vision.

India sets global standards and becomes a scale provider of values based learner-centric education, skills development and professional educatorsthrough industry partnerships

Many people across the country have expressed a hope of

seeing a corruption-free India. They want to see citizens

who are of strong character, are ethical and are globally

respected and trusted. Many have called for the

incorporation of values based, learner centric education in

our school curriculum to overcome the increasing

corrosion of our value system. It would induce great pride

to see India become one of the top 10 countries in the

global indices of transparency and corruption.

The future of our children, and consequently our country,

is dependant on the availability of well-trained teachers in

our schools, colleges and universities. The lack of

Voices of India

“Quality education for building a sound and sustainable base”

“Inclusive and learner-friendly atmosphere in all schools”

“Educators as role models”

“Character building, quality and values-based education”

“Education to inculcate moral awareness”


of the world by 2022?

list of top 100 universities

universities make it to the

Can 30 of our Indian

trained teachers is evident from the current teacher-student ratio of 1:60 at the primary level. Additionally on any given day, 25% of the teachers are usually absent. People across the country called for an improved teacher-student ratio in all schools/colleges and mandatory certification for all teachers using one single national norm. People envision teachers playing a key role as counselors and model citizens in society. It is essential to professionalize teaching and ensure that teacher’s compensations are at par with jobs in other sectors. Teaching should become an occupation of choice for the youth of our country.

To improve the quality of teaching, it is critical to facilitate

partnerships between academia and industry. This has the

potential to become a virtuous cycle by ensuring that our

industry benefits from the expertise of teachers and

professors, and the teachers in turn can gain knowledge

about the practical challenges faced by industry. The

academia can constantly update the curriculum which

would lead to the creation of employable people who can

benefit both business and society.


agenda 19

education and skill development

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