National Skill Development Mission: Mission, Objectives, Government Initiative and More

In order to propel the “Skill India” agenda in a “Mission Mode,” combining scale and quality of skilling efforts with speed, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship—previously the Department of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship—was established in November 2014. Government programs are covered in the UPSC Syllabus’s Social Justice segment of General Studies Paper 2. Students studying for the IAS Exam should be familiar with this topic because it is one of the most important government schemes.

On that note, let’s learn about National Skill Development Mission in detail.

National Skill Development Mission

Skill India is overseen by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. This initiative consists of:

• National Skill Development Mission
• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)
• National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
• Skill Loan Scheme

Candidates can get more information on the National Skill Development Mission on the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship’s official website.

The mission was started in order to achieve convergence in skill training operations across diverse industries and states. Along with unifying and coordinating skilling activities, the mission would accelerate decision-making across sectors in order to achieve large-scale quality skilling.

Mission Statement

“To quickly scale up skill development initiatives in India by developing an end-to-end, outcome-focused implementation framework that strikes a compromise between business expectations for a skilled workforce and Indian citizens’ ambitions for sustainable livelihoods.”

National Skill Development Mission Objectives

• Implementing the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) will provide chances for both long-term and short-term training, which will lead to productive employment and career advancement.
• Because of determined training, using the framework to maintain a balance between industry/employer needs and the workers will result in a sustainable livelihood.
• Providing re-skilling and up-skilling opportunities to the workforce of the industry’s unorganised sectors.
• Providing high-quality training standards through high-quality teaching and benchmarked institutions that meet national and international standards leads to a highly qualified workforce and global career prospects.
• Support the most vulnerable and underprivileged members of society through targeted outreach programs and skill development activities.
• Providing credit transfer channels for migrating between the vocational training system and the formal educational system.
• Maintaining a national database known as the Labour Market Information System (LMIS), which will serve as a portal for matching the country’s demand and supply of skilled labour.
• On one hand, the LMIS will offer citizens critical information on skilling efforts around the country.
• On the other hand, it will also act as a platform for monitoring the effectiveness of existing skill development programmes in each Indian state.

Government Initiatives to Promote Skill Development

• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY): Aims to provide free skill training opportunities to Indian youngsters.
• Skill Saathi Counseling Program: MSDE also established the Skill Saathi program, which aimed to educate the country’s young about the numerous pathways available through the Skill India Mission and raise aspirations for skill development.
• Skills Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement- STRIVE: The scheme’s primary objective is to enhance the performance of ITIs. The initiative is a World Bank-supported project led by the Government of India with the goal of increasing the relevance and efficiency of skills training offered through Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and apprenticeships.
• SANKALP: Centrally Sponsored Scheme that works with the World Bank to improve the district-level skilling ecosystem through convergence and coordination.
• Industrial Training Centres (ITIs): The goal is to develop and modernise India’s existing Long-Term Training environment.
• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKK): These are the cutting-edge Model Training Centres that are intended to provide benchmark institutions that demonstrate aspirational value for competency-based skill development training.
• MSDE will deliver high-quality, technology-oriented skill programs to schools by offering vocational courses and collaborating with CBSE to build “Hubs of Excellence in Skills” for school students.