Skilling for Viksit Bharat@2047: A Paradigm Shift Needed

As India moves forward on the pathways of rapid track sustainable development as the largest democracy of the world, it needs to effectively capitalise its “Advantage India” that lies in its over 660 million  youth between the age group of 15-29 years. It is this vast  pool of Young India that needs both the technology skills as well as the character skills of integrity, responsibility and  accountability akin to the clarion calls of Viksit Bharat of our dreams.

 Skilling Youth with AI and Digital Skills:

Young India need to be empowered  with the digital skills in a hyper connected world, of which India is one of the most promising leaders in the age of Artificial Intelligence, AI. These AI and Digital skills are required all across the board for all sectors of economy.

New Skill Infrastructure urgently Needed

The current level of skilling infrastructure and the skilling ecosystem in India requires a paradigm shift both in respect of contents as well as in the delivery systems being adopted as present .

The mass scale skilling by organising workshops or seminars or even skill camps is no answer to the skilling needs of AI and  digital skills, nor is a solution to seriously align the conduct and character of Young India to the needs of integrity, responsibility and sustainability , the ‘holy trinity’ of the New Age.

Skill Universities need a Redesign

The initiative of the state  governments in India  to establish skill universities in public and private domains, though sounds good at the first instant, may end up with unemployable skill degree holders unless these skill universities change their  approach of imparting skills to the inspired young minds who come to these skill universities to get the experience and exposure to the hi-tech digital skills and their practice for   the most modern manufacturing and service applications.

 The design and delivery system for  skill programs have to be necessarily different than the normal knowledge based degree programs of today’s forward looking universities and institutions of higher learning.

Future Readiness to be the Mantra:

The primary goal of a Skill University should be to produce graduates who are immediately employable, job-ready, and possess the higher- end digital skills so much needed at the work place today by the employers. These universities should necessarily  emphasize fostering internship in industry, on learning by doing and activity based learning a lot more than ‘learning to know’ and know deep as the conventional universities usually are accustomed to provide.

The outcome of a skill university has to necessarily be a ready to run a kind of industry or service sector work force that not only has the skills of today but is also capable of self-empowerment with the skill sets of future in the industry or a service organisation.

Catch them Young from School Onward:

Ideally, the interest in skills of the new age  should be cultivated  from school level onward. There was a time when India had technical schools which focused at that time on skill based learning of engineering and technology. These students after passing their technical schools became highly successful engineering and technology graduates once they joined their degree programs.

Skilling Youth should be National Priority

Today, when we are in an era that required  competency, caliber and character  to work alongside with smart and intelligent machines, robots  and humanoids, the importance of skilling  Young India cannot be over emphasised.

It would be highly desirable for the universities and colleges in India to establish multifunctional, multi-sectorial skill centres and high-tech skill towers to empower the youth of India with  skill sets for the future ready workforce that Viskit Bharat@2047 mission so well requires.

World Youth Skills Day 2025

The UN  World Youth Skills Day 2025,  celebrated throughout the world each year on July 15, has given a call to “Youth empowerment through AI and Digital Skills” as its theme for this year. This is in line with the needs of Industry 4.0 and Service Sector 5.0 that require empowerment of youth with next generation AI and digital skills embedded with the character  skills of sustainability, integrity and responsibility that the new age so much requires to create a green and blissful future for the world community.

Let skilling Youth be a matter of great national priority and let India take a lead in redesigning it’s skill infrastructure for the New Age learners.

About Authors: Prof PB Sharma is a renowned academician, past President of AIU, Founder Vice Chancellor of DTU and currently Vice Chancellor of Amity University Gurugram and Sanskrit Sharma is a 11th class student at Amity International School.