According the Planning Commission (Government of India), skill building is viewed as an instrument to improve the effectiveness and contribution of labour to the overall production. It is as an important ingredient to push the production possibility frontier outward and to take growth rate of the economy to a higher trajectory, the Commission says in its approach to the 12th Five Year plan. The changing demographic profiles in India vis-à-vis China, Western Europe, and North America indicate that India has a unique 20 to 25 years' window of opportunity called ‘demographic dividend'.
This ‘demographic dividend' accounts for India having world's youngest work force with a median age way below that of China and OECD Countries. And alongside this window of opportunity for India, the global economy is expected to witness a skilled man power shortage to the extent of around 56 million by 2020. Thus, the ‘demographic dividend' in India needs to be exploited not only to expand the production possibility frontier but also to meet the skilled manpower requirements of in India and abroad, says the Commission.
While the academia has a natural role in creating industry ready graduates, it is somehow lacking in the same. The need of the hour is for the industry to take initiative and fill in the gaps. Many organisations recognise this and are accordingly paying their role. For example, Volkswagen India is currently running a 3-year specialised Mechatronics apprenticeship programme at its plant in Chakan, Maharashtra.
"Currently in India, our industry needs some key competencies which are necessary to adapt to the fast changing industrial requirements. The motivation behind starting this programme is to offer practical relevance and flexibility of vocational education and training in India. Volkswagen Group, with the launch of this three year programme, introduced its global quality standards from the automobile sector to the education sector," according to Vijayan KT from the Volkswagen India Academy.
Vijayan believes this need of skilled manpower can be fulfilled by these Mechatronics apprentices, as Mechatronics is the combination of mechanical, electrical, electronics, information technology and control system. He says Volkswagen is the only automotive manufacturer to offer such programmes. "This programme is unique to India and to the Mechatronics stream with dual training system. Volkswagen also offers this course in several other countries in Europe."
