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Cover Story

cal sectors. Several edtech startups good beginning.
have blossomed to specifically skill Since it was voted to power at the
students/professionals for these fast- Centre in 2014, again in 2019, and
track sectors of the economy. now for a third term in 2024, the
A case in point is SHRM (Hindi for BJP-led NDA government has ac-
‘hard-work’) Biotechnologies Pvt. Ltd corded commendable attention to
(estb.2006), a Kolkata-based train- vocational and skills education. For
ing and skills development company one, the broadly titled Union ministry
that offers students — undergrads of human resource development has
to doctorate scholars — short-term been appropriately narrowed down to
upskilling programmes in biotech- the Union ministry of education, and
nology, pharmacy and life sciences, a new ministry for skill development
and provides research, incubation and entrepreneurship was established
and placement assistance. Accredited in 2014. Since then, it has launched
by the Life Sciences Sector Skill De- several officially-sponsored skills de-
velopment Council of NSDC, SHRM Vora: experiential learning mantra velopment programmes including the
has skilled and certified over 12,000 flagship Skill India Mission. Accord-
students enrolled in the company’s “bridging gaps and upgrading skills of ing to Union finance minister Nirmala
online and offline programmes. farmers, wage workers, self-employed Sitharaman, the mission has skilled
“ THERE’S RISING DEMAND organised/unorganised segments of 2015 (see box p.54). The govern-
14 million youth since its launch in
and extension workers engaged in
agriculture & allied sectors” at a time
ment’s showpiece National Education
from India’s booming bio-
tech industry for skilled
priority to skills education mandating
professionals. Our objective when “the country’s agriculture sector Policy (NEP) 2020 also accords high
is experiencing stagnant growth and
is to prepare and skill students for exodus of quality manpower to other “integration of vocational education
this sunrise industry by bridging the sectors”. Since then, ASCI has devel- into school and higher education in-
academia-industry gap. Our upskill- oped 176 ‘Qualification Packs’ in farm stitutions in a phased manner over the
ing programmes are industry-driven mechanisation and precision farming, next decade”.
and responsive to changing market agri information, soil health, poultry Yet the Modi administration and
needs with students provided hands- management, etc and has signed up state governments have repeatedly
on industry experience in our two 736 training partner organisations failed to back up lip service to edu-
modern research and development including 68 agricultural universities cation including skilling, with larger
lab facilities in Kolkata. Experiential and private institutes and companies. financial outlays. Annual national ex-
learning is the mantra for all students They have collectively trained 1.3 mil- penditure for education (Centre plus
to become employable, and for profes- lion youth, a minuscule number but a states) is stuck in the 2.5-3 percent of
sionals to progress in their careers,” ASCI trainer: good beginning
says Kunal Vora, founder-director &
CEO of SHRM Biotechnologies.
Yet perhaps the best news is that
awareness of the importance of skills
acquisition is spreading within India’s
huge and low productivity agriculture
sector. Although rural India hosts 60
percent of India’s 1.4 billion popula-
tion, it contributes a mere 15 percent
of annual GDP. Handicapped by rock-
bottom foundational and primary ed-
ucation provided by 1.20 million state
government schools, India’s farmers
use antiquated tools, equipment and
farming know-how.
Established in 2013, the Agricul-
ture Skill Council of India (ASCI), un-
der the jurisdiction of the Union skill
development ministry, is tasked with

56 EDUCATIONWORLD AUGUST 2024