The
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry ( FICCI) and ministry
of labour and employment jointly organised the fifth 'Global Skills Summit
2012' from September 6-7 , in the Capital with the theme — 'Learner First.'
Emphasising on the need to skill people, Kapil Sibal,
minister for human resource development, said,
"By 2030 India would have
the largest population out of which 400 million would be between the age of
0-14 and about 100 million would be between the age of 14-18 years. The population
of India is growing annually at the rate of 1.2% and the rate at which people
are entering the workforce annually is 1.7%. The average age of an Indian by
2020 would be 29 years old. We have to make sure that this can turn into a
demographic dividend."
India lags far behind in imparting skill training as compared to other
countries. Only 10% of the total workforce in the country receives some kind of
skill training (2% with formal training and 8% with informal training). Eighty
percent of the freshers entering the workforce do not have the opportunity for
skill training.
"If we can ensure that the children can go and work, we can be the most
prosperous country in the world. It is also a big challenge because we have to
look at how we can implement the ideas through the communities. There is a
mismatch between the literacy levels, the expectations of the industry and the
academic orientation . We need to have more community colleges. For this
purpose, we will be launching 10 community colleges with the Association of
Canadian Community Colleges ," he said.
