India is one of the youngest nations. Its median age is 27.3. Skill development holds the key to India’s future as a globally competitive economy and the demographic dividend it hopes to reap. For this Skill India mission success is the key as its primary goals are

1. To meet employers needs of skills
2. To prepare workers (young and old) for a decent livelihood

Sharada Prasad committee recommendations:

• Create a sound and well defined National Vocational Education and Training System of the country which should ensure the following::-
  • At the secondary school level, the children should be sensitized about the dignity of labour, world of work and career options but vocational education and training should start only after 10 years of schooling which is the case in most of the developed world.
  • Every child should be given an option to go for higher vocational education and training.
• Create National Labour Market Information System, National Occupational Standards, National Competency Standards, National Training Standards, National Accreditation Standards, National Assessment Standards and National Certification Standards and align them to the International Standard.

• Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship should become the owner of all National Vocational Education and Training Standards and get them developed though intense industry involvement.

• Set up state of the art Vocational Education and Training Colleges to impart vocational education and training with a clear objective of meeting the skills needs of the industry and providing employment to youth.
• In-plant apprenticeship training should be made an integral part of the Vocational Education and Training for all trainees.
• The trainees must learn core skills in the company and devote at least one third of the total training period for this training. In most of the advanced countries, in-plant apprenticeship training is combined with the vocational school training.
• The industry must come together to contribute towards a National Skill Development Fund
• All diploma colleges and ITIs should be renamed as VETCs and their capacities should be enhanced to about 500 trainees per annum.
• There should be one Skill Development Centre (SDC) in a cluster of about 10-12 villages, which would provide skills to the youth so that they can access employment opportunities in the local economy.

• The two existing Acts i.e. Apprentices Act, 1961 and The Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959 should be repealed and a new Vocational Education and Training Act (VETA) should be enacted.

The recommendation of committee need to be implemented in both letter and spirit to harness demographic dividend of India.