Focus on skilling, digitalisation for industry 4.0 will boost employability, say educational experts

According to the Union Budget FY24, the government’s focus on knowledge and skill development has been seen as a big move towards generation of employment opportunities. Moreover, the government has allocated Rs 68804.85 crore (net) for School Education and Literacy and Rs 44094.62 crore (net) for Higher Education, as per data released by the government. “The allocation of Rs 3,000 crore for the National Recruitment Agency to streamline the recruitment process for government jobs will aid employment opportunities for the youth,” Mayank Singh, co-founder, Campus 365, said.

According to the Budget 2023, the government focuses on special upskilling programmes for 3.5 lakh tribal students. Additionally, 38,800 will be recruited for 740 Eklavya Model Residential Schools by the government.  “The commitment to recruit teachers over the next three years is a major boost for tribal students who will now have access to quality education and opportunity,” Ritika Kumar, founder, CEO, STEM Metaverse, said.

Moreover, the Finance Minister has emphasised on the establishment of digital libraries, grants to Indian Institute of Technologies, and boost digital infrastructure to bridge the gap created by pandemic loss. “The digital and physical infrastructure, particularly for the most marginalised young people in the hinterland, will help build higher student engagement and interest, and make learning an easy process,” Dhuwarakha Sriram, Chief of Generation Unlimited (YuWaah) and Youth Development and Partnerships, UNICEF, said.

Industry players believe that this will lead to development of soft skills among the youth. “Directing focus towards the new and emerging fields, the Budget reflects great foresight in skilling for industry 4.0, which includes soft skills for job-readiness and is likely to improve the number of workforce,” Gaurav Goel, CEO, co-founder of Toprankers added.  According to Piyush Nangru, co-founder, COO, Sunstone, the budget is focused on entrepreneurship and is people-centric at best.

In addition, the Union Budget 2023 allocated plans to establish 100 5G-enabled laboratories, Centre of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence (AI), among other tech-based measures. “The labs will promote innovation in the area and aid in the growth of technology by giving students and researchers the chance to experiment with and create new applications using 5G technology,” Rajeev Tiwari, co-founder, Stemrobo Technologies, said. Furthermore, Aman Mittal, vice-president, Lovely Professional University added “Opening of 100 labs on the 5G services across the country is a primary necessity. Although the result orientation and the parts of skills improvement is yet to be seen, surely it is expected to provide the impetus that is required by the education sector.”