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With an aim to address the issues surrounding unemployment and under-employment amongst the youth, the World Youth Skills Day (WYSD) is observed to generate awareness on the importance of technical, vocational education, training and the development of other skills relevant to local and global economy.
It is also in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030, that proposes two goals on education and skills for employment (i) Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, (ii) Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
Technology and digitisation are redefining the way we look at skilling and education. Hence, it is important for businesses to integrate technology, stay competitive and be innovative as this would enable them to reap the benefits of digitisation.
It is also imperative to ensure the inclusion of women in the high skilled sectors. While the number of women working or looking for work has increased globally, it is important that we build capacities and up skill them to make them suitable for high skill occupations.
While skilling is an important aspect of a nation’s socio-economic scenario, there is a glaring skills-to-employment gap prevailing in the country today. The National Skill Development Mission by Government of India aims at socio-economic growth by increasing employment and reducing the skill gap.
Under the mission, the Indian Government seeks to provide the institutional capacity to train a minimum of 300 million skilled people by the year 2022. The corporate sector has an important role to play by devising several mechanisms and programmes to impart training to the employees thereby helping them to develop the required skill sets and maintain a healthy talent pipeline.
At Schneider Electric, we believe in skilling young minds through programmes designed to conserve the planet, facilitating entrepreneurship through electrician training programmes and bringing light to lives in off-grid villages through solar energy. Around 90,000 unemployed youth were provided with vocational skills, as electricians, enabling them to earn a livelihood and creating sustenance for their families.
The Schneider Electric India Foundation has set up 271 vocational training centres spread across the country and comprising of 260 basic electrician training centres, ten solar energy training centres and one Centre of Excellence. A total of 701 teachers’ missions have been completed by the foundation and 292 scholarships disbursed to support their skilling.
In order to impart training to the youth and increase their employability, SEIF has supported centres with the latest tools, equipment and technical know-how in electrical maintenance, electrical technology and automated electrical systems.
Skilled workforce is an essential pre-requisite to attain a competitive edge in a global landscape and addressing the issue of skill gap necessitates collaborative efforts by the government and businesses
By our Guest Blogger
Venkat Garimala, Vice President-S&A, CTM, EE, A2E and CSR
Venkat is a prolific business leader with 24 years of experience in managing businesses across domains and customer segments. Venkat has been working with Schneider Electric for 13 years. He has a proven track record in leading and turning around businesses to consistently drive revenue and profitable growth through General management, Strategy, S & M, Business Development etc. Venkat is responsible for Energy Efficiency (EE) Programme of the company largely to promote EE and sustainability. Additionally, he oversees CSR for Schneider Electric and board member for Schneider Electric India Foundation (SEIF).
