New Delhi, April 2024.

Continuous skill development and lifelong learning are crucial for driving economic prosperity, empowering individuals to thrive through meaningful employment, and advancing equality and resilience within communities. In line with this objective, the International Labour Organization (ILO) convened the Global Skills Forum on Wednesday to bring together world leaders on the same platform to deliberate on ways to shape skills development in today’s world.

During the panel discussion on“Human-Centered Digital Transformation of Skills Development” organized by ILO the Skill India Digital Hub (SIDH), an initiative by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), was presented as the tool that transformed India’s skill development ecosystem.

While addressing the panel, Ms. Shreshtha Gupta, Executive Vice President (IT & Digital), National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) & Director & CTO, NSDC International, said, “Skill India Digital, a comprehensive digital platform is poised to revolutionize the education and skill development landscape.Conceptualized during the COVID-19 pandemic, the platform addresses the skilling needs of India's diverse demography. She further said that SIDH platform is built as a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) with open source cloud hosted architecture enabling quick configuration to meet skilling needs of other countries. I am confident that ILO serves as a catalyst in improving user engagement, expanding reach and advancing collaboration with global countries”.

She narrated an inspiring story of a young girl living from young remote area of Jammu & Kashmir who got benefited from the Skill India Digital Hub (SIDH). “The young girl always aspired to pursue a career in cybersecurity, but due to the lack of resources, quality education and relevant skill-building opportunities, she wasn't able to reach her full potential. The SIDH proved to be a gamechanger that empowered her with personalized learning experiences, streamlined verification processes, and improved career guidance, allowing her to turn her aspirations into tangible realities,” Gupta said.

She further pointed out that SIDH also takes forward the National Skill Development Corporation’s (NSDC) vision of skills for all, anytime, anywhere by creating an innovative platform to cater to both job seekers on one side and employers on the other side. It simplifies hiring and makes apprenticeship and job opportunities discoverable.

SIDH has been a testament to NSDC’s commitment to bring scale and speed to India’s skilling ecosystem. So far, NSDC has trained 36 million+ candidates, including 16.1million+ women, 5.4 million+ candidates from social backward communities and close to 200K+ people with special abilities. The nodal agency has also successfully placed 9 million+ youth.

As part of capacity building, NSDC has 46K+ skill assessors, 70K+ skill teachers and 1 billion+ financing facilities. Furthermore, covering 750+ districts, its network consists of 36 Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) imparting industry-relevant skill training to the youth and 35k+ employers offering job opportunities.

Since its inception in 2008, NSDC has been playing a pivotal role in empowering India's youth by collaborating with various stakeholders including government bodies, industry partners, and training providers. Through its extensive network of training centers and programs, NSDC is equipping youth with the necessary competencies to succeed in diverse sectors such as IT, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, and more. By offering industry-driven training courses, internships, and certification programs, NSDC is not only enhancing the employability of India's youth but also addressing the skill gap prevalent in the job market.

Continuous skilling, reskilling and upskilling people of all ages have become a necessity of today’s world. Against this backdrop, ILO believes that building an agile workforce capable of navigating the fast-changing labour market is crucial.