India’s flagship skills mission scheme struggled with finding jobs for trainees over the past year, with only a fifth of those who were certified after completing short-term courses getting placed against a target of 70 percent.
The shortfall was at three levels – achievement of training targets, number of trained and certified people, and employment of certified trainees, according to official documents and people aware of the development.
Since January last year, 128,433 people were trained in varied skills under short-term training (STT) courses and only 75,194 were certified. Of those certified, only 15,421 trainees got jobs, according to data submitted by the skills development ministry to a parliamentary standing committee.
“Yes, it was a difficult year, it was a Covid year. It is also a fact that the outcome is still very low and shows how the scheme has struggled to take off in the past one year,” a government official said, requesting anonymity.
The data shows that job placement was a lowly 20.5 percent of those trained and certified and an even lower 12 percent of those only trained under STT courses that have a job linkage component. The latest data available is till January 3, 2022.
“There was a big mismatch between the number of candidates trained, certified and those who eventually got placement,” the parliamentary standing committee on labour, textiles and skill development, wrote in a report.
Extended target
The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) launched the third phase of its flagship scheme—Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY 3.0) – on January 15, 2021, with an outlay of Rs 948 crore and a target of skilling 800,000 people by March 31, 2021, which was later extended for the whole of 2021-22.
As per the standing committee, till January 3, 2022, at least 447,034 people were trained, of which the bulk were under the so-called recognition of prior learning (RPL), which entails certification of a skill that a person already has.
The other two categories are STT and special projects. STT has a job linkage provision and the target is to achieve 70 percent placement.
The official said the initial March 31, 2021, target was not even 60 percent complete as of January 3, 2022. While the numbers may have increased over the past two months, the details of training, certification and placement will emerge later, the official said.
“The dismal placement of certified candidates is mainly due to three reasons – a poor job environment in the past one year in most sectors except the ones like IT, ITes and logistics. Second, the economic slowdown post the pandemic and the slow recovery of economic activities in 2021 must have contributed,” a second official said, asking not to be identified.
The skills ministry, however, told the standing committee that after registration, some candidates don’t turn up for the course and others drop out midway.
The difference between training and assessment numbers was “largely attributed to trained candidates not appearing for assessment… (and) the reason for the gap in number of candidates assessed and candidates certified is attributed to the failure of candidates in assessment tests,” the ministry told the committee.
The ministry also justified the job placement rate, saying some students who enrolled prefer to pursue higher studies than take up employment. In addition, students hesitate to relocate to places where job opportunities are available, especially if it is outside their home state.
