Skill Development | Meaning and Focus

The objective of Skill Development is to create a workforce empowered with the necessary and continuously upgraded skills, knowledge and internationally recognized qualifications to gain access to decent employment and ensure India's competitiveness in the dynamic global market. It aims at increasing the productivity and employability of workforce (wage and self-employed) both in the organized and the unorganized sectors. It seeks increased participation of youth, women, disabled and other disadvantaged sections and to synergize efforts of various sectors and reform the present system with the enhanced capability to adapt to changing technologies and labour market demands. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) "Skill Development is of key importance in stimulating a sustainable development process and can make a contribution in facilitating the transition from an informal to formal economy. It is also essential to address the opportunities and challenges to meet new demands of changing economies and new technologies in the context of globalization." Skills development can help build a "virtuous circle" in which the quality and relevance of education and training for women and men fuels the innovation, investment, technological change, enterprise development, economic diversification and competitiveness that economies need to accelerate the creation of more jobs.