Edu, skilling key for workforce, says Pradhan

“The country is blessed with a demographic dividend. Education and skill have to play an important role in converting our demographic dividend into a transformative powerhouse,” Pradhan said.

New Delhi: Union education and skill development and entrepreneurship minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday shared his thoughts on leveraging skills to reap the demographic dividend into a transformative powerhouse. He was addressing the 13th FICCI Global Summit 2022.

Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan (Agencies)

“The country is blessed with a demographic dividend. Education and skill have to play an important role in converting our demographic dividend into a transformative powerhouse,” Pradhan said.

The theme of the summit was ‘Education to Employability - Making it Happen’ and the Union minister acknowledged FICCI’s approach to recognising education and skill as mentioned in the National Education Policy. He further added that the government has simplified all the labour laws into four codes. He also said the compulsory clause in the Apprenticeship Act has been optional.

“For our economy to be more productive and robust, we must make our workforce more productive. Simplification of labour laws and initiatives like apprenticeships will go a long way in making our workforce more vibrant,” he said.

Pradhan further talked about the government’s initiative to set up a digital university where employees holding diplomas can earn degrees such as MBA in a multiple entry-exit system. “We made an academic bank where professionals will have accounts for their academic credentials. We brought this flexibility through policy reform,” he added.

He further called for building a stronger academia-industry-policymaker connection and working with a collective approach to drive further transformation in the education and skills sector. “Initiatives and reforms in academia will only be successful when industries will adopt them,” he added.