Escalating youth unemployment is of serious concern in India. The country’s young population lacks the opportunity to reach their full potential unless a concerted effort is taken by the government to leverage its human capital and transform India to become the workforce supplier of the world.

In the wake of rising unemployment and lack of required skills amongst new employees, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), in association with National Skill Development Council (NSDC), is working on making skill development training viable in schools.

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With a lot of employers complaining about the lack of requisite expertise in new entrants, they aim to offer skill training to the youth and make them industry ready.

Reasons for the lack of job opportunities: The youth, especially, those living in the rural areas are unaware of the new job opportunities emerging in fields such as electronics, telecom, agriculture, BFSI retail, healthcare, tourism and hospitality.

The lack of appropriate training and no proper formal education in small towns and cities are also some of the reasons for unemployment.

The rural youth needs opportunities to discover their capabilities and an encouraging environment to grow. For this, the government needs to work upon initiatives to educate the rural youth and create awareness about the new and emerging fields.

Apart from lack of knowledge, automation in every sector has led to the risk of loss of jobs, which is what makes training in relevant fields all the more important.

As AI, machine learning and IT dominate job places, it’s required of people to develop skills to respond to these changes in a positive and productive way.

Ways to create more job opportunities: Job creation in the country can happen with the formation of new enterprises or the expansion of the existing firms. Entrepreneurial India has gained momentum with initiatives like StartUp India, Digital India, and access to Mudra banks amongst others.

According to Nasscom, India’s image as a startup nation is gaining momentum and currently boasts of having the third-largest startup base globally with an estimate of 10,500 new startups by 2020.

One of the priorities set by the government through Skill India is to impart knowledge and skills to 40 crore people by 2022, with over 73 development programmes focused on multiple sectors, emphasising training and job placement.

The idea is to equip the youth with the right opportunities by generating a productive workforce capable of meeting the demands of local, national and global industries. Apart from this, training should be provided to boost interpersonal, technical and critical thinking skills.

Youth should be empowered with the right knowledge and vocational skills to tackle the growth of automation. India’s demographic dividend is likely to soar only if adequate capital is invested towards the right training and skill development of the youth.

Already huge gaps exist between the industry requirements and the level of skills of workers due to several reasons such as an inappropriate mix of skills and education, outdated curricula, inadequate training infrastructures, limited industry interfaces, limited standards and many more.

Skill training should be made mandatory in schools and other educational institutions and it should be viewed as a complementary part of mainstream education.

The Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, the nodal ministry for all Skill India efforts, has already initiated a special industry initiative to attract corporates to set up co-branded Corporate Skill Excellence Centres in PPP mode, to cater to the captive skilling demands of industry, to enhance productivity of supply chain partners and fulfil the aspirations of the youth in the surrounding areas in a sustainable manner. All these programmes are sure to create more employment opportunities and overcome the shortage of skilled employees in the country.

The writer is founder and CEO, Safeducate