Skill Development Uttarakhand

The Skill Development scenario in Uttarakhand, a state in the northern part of India, is similar to that of the rest of the country. The conventional education system does not focus much on the skill development of students. India's government is focusing on improving skills of 500 million people by 2022, and the Uttarakhand government is also making serious efforts to mobilize resources in providing skills to its youth. The Uttarakhand Skill Development Mission is leading this initiative. The Government aims to develop the skills of 650 thousand youth, and provide them employment between 2012 and 2017.

Government of Uttarakhand Skill Development Schemes

Alongside National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) the Government of Uttarakhand runs various programs for equipping its youth with the skills requisite for success in the workforce.

Employability Ratio of HE Students and Professionals

The recent India-wise reports suggest that only 10% of MBA holders acquire jobs. Less than 19% of engineers are employable, and only 18% actually land a job and 30% graduates are job worthy. The given figures are grimmer in the hilly state. Due to adversities such as the disaster-proneness of state, the focus on human development is comparatively lesser.

Government of Uttarakhand's Domain Focus for Skill Development

The Government schemes focus more on skilling students and job seekers from vocational background. Right now the focus on skilling higher education students is secondary.

Skill Development for HE Students and Professionals

Addressing the absence employable skills in current and aspiring professionals, for white collar jobs, is a low priority. These are essentially non-robotic and strategy job functions within MNCs, Large Enterprises and Service Sector. Thus these sectors face huge challenges in recruiting professionals with competitive skills.

This is a domain where the private sector stakeholders can play a vital role. A positive change is witnessed in Uttarakhand wherein organizations such as the Centre for Employability Skills through their Skill Development Centre in Haldwani work to equip aspiring workers and students for white collar jobs.

The private players have to join hands with the government to assist the overall skill development of all domains. The disproportionate focus on particular worker fields (vocations) may create an imbalance in skilled employees for certain professions.

One of the Uttarakhand government's primary challenges is to equip its youth with the skills requisite for the type of employment opportunities the state hopes to create.

Uttarakhand: Manpower Availability & Demand

Based on a study conducted by Ernst & Young LLP, the State of Uttarakhand will have an incremental human resource requirement of approximately 2.06 million by 2022. In 2012 the requirement was 3.8 million which is set to increase to 4.64 million by 2017 and will reach 5.89 million by 2022.

Agriculture (Forestry, Fishery, Logging, Horticulture and Animal Husbandry) and Mining, the leading workforce industries, will continue to lead in terms of total Human Resource requirement.

The Primary sector’s share in total manpower demand was 57.3 percent in 2012 it will decline to 50.2 percent in 2017 and 42.6 percent in 2022.

The share of Secondary and Tertiary sector in total manpower requirement will show an upward trend.

Human resource requirement in Secondary Sector was 17 percent which will rise to 20 percent in 2017 and 23.5 percent in 2022.

The Tertiary Sector’s human resource requirement was 25.9 percent in 2012 which will be 29.8 percent in 2017 and 33.9 percent in 2022.

Sector-wise increase in Demand

The top five sectors with increased demand in year 2022 are:

1. Manufacturing
2. Tourism, hospitality and trade
3. Agriculture and allied services
4. Education
5. Construction

References

National Skill Development Corporation Uttarakhand Skill Development Mission Research on Engineers' Employability India Study of Graduates' Employability India Centre for Employability Skills Prominent Corporate Skill Development Centre in Uttarakhand