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| New Education Policy 2020 and Skill Gap: Analyzing Different Competent and Challenges-Based Indicators Pertaining to Achieving Skill Development Amongst the Higher Education Students in Dehradun District of Uttarakhand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Paper Id :
17142 Submission Date :
2023-02-13 Acceptance Date :
2023-02-23 Publication Date :
2023-02-25
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| Abstract |
Witnessing the exposure and skill requirement for the 21st century, the new education policy 2020 has focused on primarily skill acquisition and attainment processes of the students in pursue of job attainment and market- oriented space. To address this in lieu of new education policy, this primary research has highlighted the key challenges and hindrances of skill attainment of the higher education students living in Dehradun district of Uttarakhand with an objective of gaining perspectives of students towards skill attainment.
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| Keywords | Skill Attainment, New Education Policy 2020, Skill Hindrances. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Introduction |
Need of skilling the youth of India
In recent years, India has come forth as one of the rapidly growing economies across the globe, but at the same time it is quite disheartening to know that the youth of the country is lacking the basic skills required for being employable. The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM)report revealed that out of five million students who graduate every year in India merely 20 percent of them are employable. Furthermore, 54 percent of the young population in India is not job-ready, as claimed by the India Skills Report 2021.
Education and skill should go hand in hand in the present competitive world as the industries require a workforce that is pre-loaded with skills. India has the potential of being the skill capital of the word owing to its largest young population. The country adds 13 million people to its workforce annually, however the Indian youth, in the age-group 19-24 years, that has undergone any formal skill training is below 5 percent only. Thus, India fairly lags behind other nations,in respect of trained workforce. This clearly shows discrepancy between the educational offerings of colleges and universities and the actual demand and requirements of the jobmarket. It is therefore observed that the current education model needs some reformative changes in order to impart skills to the students.In order to address this skill gap, skill development of the Indian youth has become a national need which will lay the foundation of self-reliant nation.Keeping this in mind the New Education Policy 2020 has been launched by the Indian government, which focuses on not only the cognitive development of the students but also on building their character, with holistic and all-round development of the students through inculcating the 21st century skills in them.
NEP2020: A roadmap to skill development
The aim of the Indian Government towards Skill Development focuses on narrowing the gap between the demand and supply of skilled workforce, the incorporation of new skills among the youth along with skill up-gradation and innovative thinking and also improving the vocational and technical training framework in order to make the young generation job ready. To achieve this the New Education Policy 2020 has adopted a learner-centric approach with increased focus on lifelong, experiential, discussion-based, and analysis-based learning, vocational education and transformation of higher education institutions.
Holistic and Multi-disciplinary Learning:
The New National Education Policy 2020 lay emphasis on a more holistic view and conceptual understanding, by discarding the traditional and outdated content-heavy and rote-learning method. In order to develop all capacities of human, the policy calls for a multidisciplinary curriculum that includes sciences, arts and humanities, languages, crafts, sports and culture. Rather than following a rigid coursework, the flexibility in choosing the learning trajectories and programmes will encourage the learners towards competence-based learning, further enhancing their core skills The policy also acknowledges soft skills like communication, cooperation, teamwork, and resilience, as some essential 'life skills' that can help students in their career path. In the long run, this type of holistic learning shall be the approach of all undergraduate programmes including the ones in technical, professional and vocational disciplines.
Re-Imaging Vocational Education:
Vocational education focuses on specific trades and imparting practical skills to the students, which further enhances their employability skills. However, in India still the vocational education program has not been able to achieve its desired prominence. The primary reason for this being, students with vocational subjects faces vertical immobility, as stated by the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) in 2013.
Vocational education is limited to only higher secondary students or class VIII dropouts, with no future career paths in higher education. This led to the inferior perception of vocational education with regard to mainstream education leading to a small number of students enrolling in them. Other reasons for less enrollment in vocational courses or trainings is the absence of rich academic content, inefficient infrastructure and inadequate funding.
The Twelfth five-year plan (2012-2017) revealed that "less than 5 percent of the workforce in India in the age-group 19-24 years has received formal vocational education ", which is oneof the lowest in the world compared to the USA having 52 percent, Germany with 75 percent and South Korea with the highest i.e., 96 percent of the workforce that trained. This necessitates expanding the coverage and efficiency of vocational education in India, as rightly promoted by the New Education Policy 2020 with regard to its complete re-imagination.
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| Objective of study | The research is directed against the backdrop of increasing skill gap in India, regardless of the skill initiatives and actions of the union as well as the state governments and also with the added advantage of the demographic dividend experienced by India. In concern of this increasing inefficiency of the present education system in fulfilling the skill requirements of students the New Education policy 2020 has laid down some provisions prioritizing skill development among the youth. To achieve this skill-driven goal, it necessary to realize the present skill gap and barriers faced by the students in skill acquisition. Therefore, this study tries to find the skill gap among the Graduate and Post Graduate students of Uttarakhand by assessing their level of skill attainment, hindrances faced and opinions regarding the New Education Policy 2020, through a survey- based study.
1. To find out the current level of Skill attainment among the Graduate and Post Graduate students in Dehradun district of Uttarakhand.
2. To find out the constraints faced by the Graduate and Post Graduate students in Dehradun district in skill acquisition. |
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| Review of Literature | NEP 2020:
Breaking the traditional path The fundamental reform pertaining to curriculum and
pedagogy under the New Education policy 2020 is to transform the present-day
education system from deeply embedded rote learning culture towards real
understanding and learning (NEP framework, the Ministry of Education, India,
2020). Furthermore, the main aim of the policy is to inculcate 21st century
skills among the students, focusing not only on cognitive development but also
on character building, holistic and all-round development of the students (NEP
2020 document, the Government of India). In developing countries like India education is one of
the most neglected sectors and faces major challenges. To amend this NEP 2020
is upgrading the existing education system from traditional methods of learning
of the1980s to the 21st century learning, keeping pace with the advancing
technology and to achieve this NEP 2020 has to work at the grass-roots
level(Kumar, et.al, 2022). Survey-based research by Mishra, et.al, (2019) indicated
that the present education system emphasizes more on rote-learning of subjects
which is the main reason of poor quality of education in India. Therefore,
skill development of the youth is necessary in order to compete with the global
education system.Malik, (2021) in her research study " National Education Policy 2020: What to Look
Forward To" stated that greater association is important in college
courses to bridge the gap present between industry and education, keeping this
in mind the New Education Policy 2020 focuses on vocational education along
with academic subjects.Increasing the enrollment of students across all
types of educational institutions is an important goal of NEP 2020 by providing
skill- education which is multidisciplinary, in order to generate employment. Therefore,
the present education system of the country needs massive changes in it
(Kumar,2020). Addressing
the Skill gap and challenges The study undertaken by Srivastava and Hasan (2015) mentions that the existing training
infrastructure of the country is irrelevant to the present need of industries.In
India,the annual addition to the workforce is 13 million, with 80 percent of
the workforce with no formal vocational training (Sahoo, et.al, 2013). Consequently, for efficient utilization of a country's
demographic dividend, the human resources should be sufficiently provided with
employability skills for gaining employment (Rath and Bhagavan,2014).The paper
by Majumder, et.al (2017) which tried to estimate the skill gap in the Indian
Labour market showed a discrepancy between the demand and supply pattern of
workers, with the deficiency of skilled workers and the abundance of unskilled
and less skilled workers thus affecting the employability of the huge working
population in India. The study also revealed the areas likely to be faced with
skill shortages are school pass outs, Graduates with vocational training and
technical graduates. Ganesh (2017), studied the gap between skills and
employability of engineering graduates from technical institutions and
estimated that sixty percent of the eight lakh engineers who graduated, are
jobless and 39 percent of employers believe finding quality among the workers
is the major constraint faced by them.The future labour market scenario of the
youth in any country primarily depends upon their initial experiences of how
well they are able to access the labour market, and the skills and ability that
they have attained through education and training (ILO, 2019).UNICEF Report
(2019) mentioned that at least 47% of the youth in India is not on the
appropriate track to achieve the education and skills necessary for employment
in 2030. Across the world skill shortage accompanied by the emerging skill gap
in the labour market is a major challenge for employability. Furthermore, the
uncertainty of the labour market in predicting the job roles and fast changing
skills is another matter of concern which aggravates the problem of skills
mismatch (Motkuri and Revathi, 2021). Skill development can be considered as a
necessary tool for empowering people. The possession of skills along with
education, among the people can lead to innovation, technological advancement,
development of the nation. To address the problem of insufficient skills and
job readiness among the Indian youth, the gap between academia, industry and
government should be bridged (Suman,
et.al, 2021).
The literature highlights the huge skill gap that exists
among the current workforce in the country and the promising provisions of the
New Education policy 2020 regarding the transformation of the traditional
education system in the country. The present research tries to analyze the
skill gap that is present among the students who will enter the workforce in
the future, taking into account the variables like awareness among them
regarding the New Education Policy and the importance of incorporating skill
development into the framework of the current Education system, the current
status of skill attainment among the students, financial and technological
restraints and the barriers that they face in skill acquisition. |
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| Methodology | The study was conducted in the Dehradun district of Uttarakhand and for the purpose of this survey-based study different private and public colleges/universities of Dehradun district were chosen according to the availability of students and permission from the higher authorities. The respondents comprised of college and university students who were currently pursuing their graduation or post-graduation studies.
Data Collection
Data was collected through primary sources using structured questionnaire as well as an online google form.Secondary sources were also used to review the literature available through statistical records, ministry websites, research papers, reports of national and international importance. Structured questionnaire, interview and Google form were the tools used for data collection in this study |
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| Sampling |
Purposive sampling has been used.
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| Tools Used | A Close ended and structured questionnaire was used in the study. Respondents were offered a set of answers for the questions asked, from which they were asked to choose the one that most closely represented their views. Dichotomous and Linkert scales were used in the questionnaire. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Statistics Used in the Study | Suitable and
appropriate statistical tools were used for interpreting the data which were
percentages and frequencies with the help of which tables were formed. For data
analysis software- IBM SPSS version 22 was used and further Excel was used for
graphical representation of tables through pie charts and bar charts in order
to facilitate better understanding of data. |
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| Analysis | Figure1: Skill related elements of New Education Policy 2020
Data analysis and interpretation 1 Demographic profile of the respondents: a. Gender-wise distribution of the respondents
The data illustrates that a total number of 305 college students participated in this survey, out of which 157 respondents were male which constitutes 51.5% of the respondents and the remaining 148 respondents were females accounting for 48.5% of the total sample. b. Age-wise Distribution of the respondents
The majority of the sample was in the age group of 21-24 years comprising of 135 students (44.3% of the sample) followed by 125 students in the age-group of 17-20 years (41%), while the remaining i.e., 45 respondents (14.8%) were of the age-group 25 years and above. c. Distribution of the respondents according to their current education level:
The data collected constitutes of the samples size of 305 respondents, majority of students i.e., 182 students (59.7%) were pursuing graduation while 123 students (40.3%) were at the level of post-graduation. 2. Skill Gap Analysis a. Status of Attainment of Skill Education amongst the respondents
The data was collected from 305 students who actively participated in the survey. It was evaluated that only 106 students i.e., 34.8% of the respondents have done or are doing any type of skill-based course/training while the lack in skill attainment was resulted by illustrating the further data that 199 students i.e., 65.2% of the sample have not acquired any form of skill-based course or training defining our objective of the existing skill gap. This clearly shows the presence of skill gap among the students further hinders their employability and job prospects in the future and is a matter of concern for the Indian Education system. b. Cross-tabulation of Current Educational level of the respondents with Skill Attainment level The cross- tabulation reflects that out of the 182 respondents who are at Graduate Level, only 31.9% of them i.e., 58 graduate students have done or are currently pursuing skill-based course or training while 68.1% of them (124 students) have not done any skill course or training. Hence, the data collected clearly defined the persistence gap of skill training at higher education which is a prominent objective of the new education policy 2020.Whereas at the post graduate level, it is illustrated that only 39% of the students (48 students) have done or are doing any type of skill-based course or training, whereas a greater percentage of 61% of the students (75 students) have not done or are enrolled in any skill-based course or training. This highlights the presence of the skill gap across the students of both Graduation and Post-graduation.
Figure 5 shows that the majority of students have not acquired any type of skill-based education (pertaining to high skill gaps), constituting 57.4% of the sample i.e., 175 students. 1. It can be also observed that amongst the different types of skill education, online courses (from MOOC platforms like SWAYAM, Coursera, Udemy, Unacademy or similar) were enrolled by more students in the sample i.e.,59 students (19.3%). 2. The students gained information after attending workshops, seminars, etc., constitutes 50 students (16.45%) 3. The data further illustrates that 38 students (12.5 %) acknowledged to gain information about skills through their college curriculum in the form of communication, life skills or technical skills. 4. While only 28 students, (9.2%) have done any kind of skill course or training under government skill initiatives while only 19 students (6.2%) have done any internship/ apprenticeship. 5. The data also reveals that vocational training and diploma courses were the least opted amongst the students, accounting for only 10 students (3.3 % of the respondents) and 4 students (1.3 %) respectively. It is also observed that NEP 2020 has majorly focused upon the vocational training which is still a hindrance for students of Uttarakhand. 3.Types of Barriers faced by the respondents while pertaining Skill Acquisition a. Financial Barriers:
The above data from figure 6 suggests the following financial barriers faced the students at higher educational level which hinders their skill attainment processes. 1. Lack of Financial resources: It is observed that out of the total 305 respondents,89.5% of the respondents (262students) were of the view that lack of financial resources is a major constraint in acquiring skills while only 3% (9 students) denied of having any financial constraint. 2. Cost of the skill-based courses and training programmes: The data also illustrates that 82% of the respondents (250 students) found the cost of skill-based courses and training programmes as a barrier in acquiring skills, while 14.4% (44 students) of the respondents were neutral of the fact that cost is regarded as a barrier. Only3.6% of the students (11 students) did not view cost of the skill- based courses as a barrier in attaining skills. 3. Students lack the tools and equipment required for these courses / trainings: 79.3% of the respondents (242 students) agreed to the fact that students lack the tools and equipment required for skill courses or trainings while only 2.3% (7 students) did not approved this. The remaining 18.4% (56 students) were indifferent of this constraint. b. Social and Cultural Barriers:
Figure 7 briefly illustrates the data of the following social and cultural kind of barriers faced the respondents: 1. Language and communication barrier: Out of the total of 305 respondents, 55.4% (169 students)viewed language and communication barrier hinder the process of skill acquisition while 30% of them (79 students) had neutral view regarding language and communication barrier. Also,18.7% of the respondents (57 students) denied the fact that there was any barrier caused by it to attain any type of skill. 2. Lack of awareness: 69.5% of the respondents i.e., 212 students believed that lack of awareness and information about skill courses, procedures and methods to attain skill- based training is an obstacle in attaining skills while 15.4 % of the students (47 students) denied being non- aware about skill- based courses. It is also 3. Mobilization barrier: 77 % of the respondents (235students) were of the opinion that students living in remote areas find it difficult to access these skill-based courses or trainings pertaining to this skill gap while only 5.3% of the students denied the same. Figure 8 evaluates the following other kinds of barriers faced by the respondents in skill attainment: 1.Existence of skills mismatch: Out of the total 305 students who participated in the survey, 62.6% accepted the presence of skills mismatch, i.e., the skills provided by educational institutes differ from the skills needed by industries and corporate sector while only 15.4% (47 students) disagreed to this. The remaining 22% (67students) were indifferent to this view. 2. Lack of skilled trainers: 62.9% of the respondents (192 students) considered lack of availability of skilled trainers and educators, an obstacle in skill attainment, whereas only 18.4% of the respondents (57 students) were of different view. 3. Inefficient infrastructure: The constraint of inefficient current infrastructure which is subjected to lower capacity to cater to the skill needs of all the students was also acknowledged as a barrier by 73.1% of the respondents i.e., 223 students while only 4.3% (13 students) denied the same. This highlights that the current infrastructure facilities, for better skill development of the students can enhance their skill accessibility.
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| Conclusion |
The research reviewed the role of Indian Education System in contributing toward enhancement of skills amongst the youth and observed that irrespective of many skill initiatives and policies of the government the youth of India still lag behind in skill acquisition due to the outdated and conventional education system which needs some serious reforms as initiated by New Education Policy 2020, which focuses on integration of skills into the present education system. The study found out that 81.3% of the respondents were positive that the provisions laid down by New Education policy 2020 will be able to bridge the skill gap. Further, the study estimated that among the respondents 65.2% of them have not done or are doing any form of skill-based course or training, defining our objective of the existing skill gap in Uttarakhand, which is a matter of concern and should be focused upon . There are several constraints due to which the students are still lagging behind in the level of skill attainment, some of them were also assessed in this study leading to 86% and 82% of the students agreeing that lack of financial resources and cost of skill-based courses are hindrances faced in skill acquisition respectively. The study concludes that in order to become a skill driven society, skill-based learning should be embedded in the current education system from the grassroot level so that the students can be equipped with the suitable employability skills that are necessary in this current competitive world. |
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| Suggestions for the future Study | In the present scenario, India is facing great challenges to develop and enhance the skills of the young population as there exists discrepancy between the demand and supply of skilled workers. As it is ascertained by the study that the existing strong linkages between education and skill development is prevalent, therefore, strengthening the education facilities, including infrastructure, staff, enrollments and the quality of education with more focus on the practical knowledge need to be one of the top priorities in order to bridge the skill gap. Further, Industrial visits of the students for better understanding of industrial systems should be encouraged along with soft skill training like communication skills and self-employment opportunities are also highly recommended. To bridge this skill gap government should work towards the proper implementation of New Education Policy 2020 with an increased focus on skill development. Also, the government should increase the skill awareness among the students by conducting workshops and seminars in colleges, provide scholarships and fellowships to reduce the financial burden on students, Rozgar melas/ Job fairs should be organized frequently, increase the scalability of skill initiatives already introduced, skill exhibition and counseling camps should be conducted, quality skill courses should be provided for free or at some minimal charges with improved infrastructure and technological facilities. Therefore, it can be assured that NEP 2020 rightly acknowledges the need to meet the goals of skill development and holistic learning. However, it needs to be supported by robust structural changes to ensure its success. This will consequently lead to greater possibility of India being the skill capital of the world. Future dimension of the research: 1. Future research must take into consideration the relationship between higher education institutions and skill development among students particularly in the state of Uttarakhand where there are challenges pertaining to land geographies and easily accessible internet services. 2. The researcher can broaden up the respondent scale and can include employers and educators also in the study. 3. A larger study area can be taken up as the current study is limited to Dehradun city of Uttarakhand. 4. More skill-oriented research to evaluate the ground level implementation of New Education Policy 2020’s provisions should be undertaken. |
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| References | 1. NEP,2020-"A Review cum Survey Based Analysis of Myths and Reality of Education in India", Sunita Khatak*, Naman Wadhwa and Rajesh Kumar, International Journal of Advanced in Management, Technology and Engineering Sciences, ISSN NO: 2249-7455
2. "Education and labour market: estimating future skill gap in India", Majumder, Rajarshi and Mukherjee, Dipa and Ray, Jhilam, https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/85439/MPRA Paper No. 85439, posted 26 Mar 2018 22:55 UTC
3. Rath, Subhendu Kumar and Behera Bhagavan (2014). “Implications of Skill Incongruity on Leveraging India’s Demographic Dividend”; International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention; Volume 3Issue 4ǁ April. 2014ǁ PP.26-35
4. "Bridging the Skill Gap in India: Challenges and Solutions" Amit Iqbal Srivastava, Aamir Hasan, International Journal of Scientific Research in Science and Technology IJSRST , 2015 IJSRST | Volume 1 | Issue 4 | Print ISSN: 2395-6011 | Online ISSN: 2395-602X
5. "National Education Policy 2020: What to Look Forward To", Seema Malik, Quest Journals Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science Volume 9 ~ Issue 1 (2021)pp: 27-32 ISSN(Online):2321-9467 www.questjournals.org..
6. New Education Policy (NEP) 2020: A Roadmap for India 2.0, Alok Kumar,https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/m3publishing/vol3/iss2021/36, DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.5038/9781955833042
7. "Bridging Skill Gap in India: A Roadmap for Atmanirbhar Bharat", Smrity Suman, Dr. Madhusudan Narayan, Dr.Mukesh Kumar Singh, International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology (IJIRSET)
8. Motkuri, V. and E. Revathi (15 January 2021). Skill Development in India: A Conceptual Framework Mapping Educational (and Training) Outcomes and Occupation-Job-Skills Standards of Industry and Labour Market, CESS-RSEPPG Background Paper Series #3, Research Cell on Education (RSEPPG), Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad.
9. Role of Higher Education in Bridging the Skill Gap, Pallavi Tomar Mishra, Abhishek Mishra, Sudhinder Singh Chowhan* Nims Institute of Management, Nims University Rajasthan, India (2019)
10. Anita Ganesh(2017), Bridging the Skills vs. Employability gap for a SMART INDIA, Project management national conference, India, September 2017, Chennai, www.pmi.org.in/events/pmnc17/ |
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