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Union Budget 2024-25: Skilling schemes pliances repair technicians etc) regis-
tered with UC undergo skills training
n her seventh consecutive Union Budget presented to of various durations after which they
IParliament on July 23, Union finance minister Nirmala are awarded UC-NSDC co-branded
Sitharaman identified ‘skilling and employment’ as one certification.
of the Top 9 priorities of the BJP-led NDA 3.0 coalition “Soon after starting our business,
government. Allocating Rs.1.48 lakh crore for ‘education, we realised that many service pro-
employment and skilling’ in Union Budget 2024-25, she fessionals registering with us had
announced several Central government-sponsored skilling hands-on experience, but no formal
schemes and initiatives. Among them: training in their trades. Therefore,
• Upgradation of 1,000 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) using the hub-and- when we signed them up as partners,
spoke model with outcome orientation. we simultaneously began training
• New centrally-sponsored skilling scheme under the Prime Minister’s package for them. Our partnership with NSDC
skilling and collaboration with state governments and industry. 2 million students formalises their training and enables
to be skilled over five years. thousands of unskilled self-employed
• Course content & design of all skilling courses to be aligned as per needs of service providers to become govern-
industry. ment (NSDC)-certified skilled profes-
• Model skill loan scheme to be revised to facilitate loans of up to Rs.7.5 lakh with sionals. Currently, our 200 trainers
a guarantee from a government-promoted fund. Provided for 25,000 students conduct three-15 day training pro-
per year. grammes for all UC partners towards
• Internship scheme for 10 million youth in 500 top companies in India over which we have spent Rs.500 crore.
five years. Interns will receive allowance of Rs.5,000 per month plus a one-time Obviously we believe that formal
assistance of Rs.6,000. Central government to pay 90 percent of internship al- skilling and training of our partners
lowance with companies paying for training and 10 percent of internship amount is necessary for them to offer excel-
from their CSR funds. lent service to our customers. For our
partners, the benefit is that they are
transformed into well-remunerated,
prise, NSDC was plagued by several certified organised sector micro-
scams and scandals in awarding train- entrepreneurs. According to our UC
ing partner licences to private firms. Earnings Index, the average monthly
But in 2014, after establishment of the net earnings of our partners deliver-
Union ministry of skill development ing over 30 services is Rs.33,469, a
& entrepreneurship by the BJP gov- clear indicator that formal training
ernment and launch of the Skill India improves earnings. Our target is to
Mission in 2015, NSDC was brought skill 2.5 lakh UC partner profession-
under the new ministry’s purview and als by 2030,” says Bhavya Sharma,
revamped. Since then, it has signed up director of corporate communica-
58,914 reputed private training part- tions & ESG (environmental, social
ner firms and HEIs (including Team- and governance) at UC, which claims
Lease, Centurion, AISECT, etc). Its 38 to provide home services to 10 million
Sector Skill Councils set standards in customers.
consultation with industry and draw Rising demand from blue-collar
up curriculums for vocations. Accord- Bhavya Sharma: trained partners workers to executives for upskilling
ing to NSDC these partnerships have has birthed a new genre of edtech com-
trained 34 million youth for 11,912 job itself as Asia’s largest marketplace for panies providing skills programmes
roles. home services (through its mobile in a wide arrary of disciplines from
T HE RESTRUCTURING AND carpet cleaning, plumbing, carpentry, ing to industry reports, professionals
app and website) including beauty,
AI to business networking. Accord-
appliances repair, house painting,
are signing up in droves with online
rejuvenation of NSDC has
enthused several blue-chip
grad, Unacademy, Emeritus, Great
corporates to sign up with etc, signed a “long-term partnership” skills training providers such as Up-
agreement with NSDC to train and
the corporation to upskill freshers and certify the company’s 57,000 ‘part- Learning, Hero Vired, Scalers, among
gig employees. For instance in Decem- ners’. Under the agreement, service others. These edtech companies have
ber 2022, the Gurgaon-based Urban professionals (carpenters, plumbers, themselves tied up with top-ranked
Company (UC, estb.2014), which bills electricians, beauticians, home ap- higher ed institutions and B-schools
AUGUST 2024 EDUCATIONWORLD 53