G20 summit: Edtechs weigh in on Delhi Declaration’s comprehensive toolkit for skilling

Apart from limited internet coverage, edtech leaders believe the high costs associated with skilling programmes are the biggest reason individuals/working professionals postpone their skilling ambitions and delay their career growth.

The Delhi Declaration has made it clear that the world needs to unite to bridge the rising skill gap in the workforces worldwide.

A 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) report revealed that at least two-thirds of the world’s youth do not have basic skills and that the share of young people who do not reach basic skill level exceeds half in 101 countries and rises above 90 percent in 37.

In a major recognition of the importance of having a global skilling framework, the recent G20 Leaders’ Summit in the national capital saw heads of government committing to address skill gaps and “welcome the comprehensive toolkit with adaptable frameworks” for digital upskilling and reskilling programmes.

However, what should this “comprehensive toolkit” look like? Indian edtech firms have some suggestions.

Customised learning

Highlighting inequality of the skill gap, the IMF report noted that skill deficits reach 94 percent in sub-Saharan Africa and 90 percent in South Asia, but they also hit 70 percent in the Middle East and North Africa and 66 percent in Latin America.

Hence, skilling experts want “high-quality and customised and valued learning resources”.

“In a world that is increasingly polarised by extreme views and misinformation, academic and industry experts bring a sense of balance and rigour that elevates the quality of content and credentials,” Raghav Gupta, MD, India and APAC, Coursera, told Moneycontrol.

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A key aspect of making trusted, high-quality content accessible is to ensure it is adapted to every individual's level, background and language preference, he said, adding that Coursera is using Machine Learning (ML) to translate 2,000 courses in languages such as Bahasa Indonesia, Thai, French and Arabic.

Apart from limited internet coverage, edtech leaders believe the high costs associated with skilling programmes are the biggest reason individuals/working professionals postpone their skilling ambitions and delay their career growth.

“This is a key area that requires more government intervention concerning mandatory tax deduction and exemption to help promote upskilling among professionals,” said Mayank Kumar, Co-founder & MD of upGrad.

According to Kumar, India needs a strong framework in the form of higher tax credits and reductions in tax calculations to propel the growth of skill-based and lifelong learning as it encourages professionals to get retrained and stay employable. “A benefit similar to Section 80C will reduce tax liabilities, thereby making skilling a household phenomenon,” he added.

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Another major challenge that most online learning platforms face is getting students to complete the course they enrol for. “For many popular platforms, it is as low as 7-8 percent. This is because of various reasons, such as enrolling in the wrong course because of lack of counselling or lack of internet or loss of motivation, etc,” said Shadab Alam, Head of Internshala Trainings, a job and training platform. He suggests that counseling be a part of the toolkit.

Skilling programmes need to stay relevant

Designing and introducing digital upskilling and reskilling programmes presents significant challenges despite the growing demand in the post-pandemic era. As per Akshay Munjal, Founder and CEO of Hero Vired, the rapid evolution of technology makes it crucial to create programmes that remain relevant over time.

“Customisation and personalisation are imperative to cater to learners with diverse skill levels and job roles, as the one-size-fits-all approach is no longer effective, he said. Besides, Munjal said predicting in-demand future skills amid the transformation driven by emerging technologies such as Generative AI, ML, and automation have added another layer of complexity.

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Another challenge is to make it adaptable for every professional—those who want to learn during work and those who don’t.

For instance, in professional diploma and certificate programmes, the challenge is to design and deliver a learning journey that does not interfere excessively with the learner's day job and, ideally, immediately adds value to it, said Dr Abinanda Sarkar, Academic Director, Great Learning.

“An important component here is the balance between synchronous (live) components and asynchronous (recorded) components. This balance can vary as the technicality of topics varies or as prerequisite skills vary. Upskilling providers are themselves learning on the job as these challenges are overcome,” he said.