By Robin Bhowmik, Chief Business Officer Manipal Global
These past years, the concept of an independent workforce has been on the rise, given impetus by the pandemic. Technology has given organisations the freedom to build a team not limited by geography but by selecting the best talents worldwide. A symbiotic relationship has been developed between people and technology. Better collaborative tools enable teams to function seamlessly and efficiently.
With transformations, there have been rapid advancements in the tech space. While the tools are now in place, a skilled workforce with a sound understanding of these tools is missing. There is a need for organisations and educational institutions to guide their people to upskill regularly to fully utilize the tech tools and resources.
The Role of Education in Upskilling
New educational models, such as South Korea’s Meister schools, strive to address upskilling issues by broadening educational possibilities. These schools collaborate with businesses to give hands-on training and direct work opportunities. Like the Philippines’ K-to-12 Program, other systems have revamped secondary education systems to emphasize skill specialisation and integrate formal education with technical and vocational education and training (TVET). These changes recognize the potential stigma associated with technical education and strive to alleviate it by incorporating industry input directly into the models’ frameworks and curricula. Re-training, Certification Courses, TVET, Career & Technical Education (CTE), and apprenticeships are alternative education courses that can give entry points into the workforce.
Ways to Help the Youth Upskill Themselves
Digital Skills Training
According to NASSCOM, India would require four times its current digital workforce in the upcoming three years to meet the expectations of the IT industry alone. Only a major shift in the development of digital skills will be able to close this gap. Integrating emerging technology courses across schools and colleges, which cover both basic and advanced digital skills and are supported by a ‘whenever, wherever, anywhere’ approach and short-sharp training modules, will contribute to the incremental skills needed in today’s economy.
Emotional Intelligence Development
Upskilling in technical skills will not be sufficient. Today’s differentiators for a better tomorrow include soft skills, including communication, emotional quotient, and cognitive control. These abilities will be realized if we promote and practice ‘human engineering,’ which is the art of recognizing and connecting with the ambitions and needs of individuals around us.
Mentor Networks
Establishing mentor networks and programs that aid in mapping basic skills and digital interconnections to help develop a career map can help youngsters gain more clarity and awareness. For instance, a security guard today can be upskilled to serve as a security operations specialist for a monitoring business that uses robotics and AI cameras.
RTD (Recruit/Train/Deploy) model helping reduce unemployment and the growing skill gap crisis
The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) has taken a step further in skilling Bihar’s youth. In this endeavor, the Bihar Skill Development Mission launched a Recruit-Train-Deploy strategy to amplify the skilling mission and effectively assist in youth skill training. RTD is designed to give the industry the freedom to teach candidates from any place without regard to site specificity. The following are the key benefits and flexibility provided by the RTD model:
-Changing from EOI/RFP selection procedures to ongoing industry/stakeholder involvement.
-New centers are continuously and online enrolled.
-Flexibility for industries/stakeholders to create and offer skilling courses. (For example, course curriculum, course duration, etc.)
-Industry/Stakeholder flexibility in proposing equipment and infrastructure standards.
-The organisation can conduct its assessment and certification.
-Any candidate from Bihar between the ages of 15 and 45 shall be considered.
With the RTD model employed by different states in the country, the learners will be encouraged to enrol in courses that will help them upskill themselves for the rapidly evolving future. Manipal’s Hire-Train-Deploy model helps upskill in terms of IT advancements across Data Analytics, Salesforce and more. These tech resources will also be made available in both B2B and B2C models, enabling the community’s growth.
With the VUCA world driving digital adoption on a massive scale, the world needs a huge pool of future-ready, highly skilled digital-savvy professionals who can work on leading-edge technology platforms. Hence, for individuals to come at par with the changing IT landscape, it becomes crucial to adapt to these changes and upskill themselves regularly.
