Skill Development for Socio-economic Progress

Contents : 1. Skill Development Initiatives in India/M.A. Sudhir and M. Hilaria Soundari. 2. Innovative Strategies for Teachers Education/P.S. Sreedevi and M.A. Sudhir. 3. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to Access the Underprivileged/A. Thomas. 4. Human Rights Education/Ashifa K.M. 5. Role of Education in the Development Process/Jeena K.G. 6. NABARD, Micro Credit and Entrepreneurial Development/R. Vettriselvan. 7. Fisheries Development Policy/G. Joseph Romald and M. Hilaria Soundari. 8. Environmental Education/Bindu M.P.9. Elementary, Secondary and Vocational Education/J.V. Asha and S. Smitha. Appendix: Twelfth Five Year Plan on Skill Development. Index.

For the Indian economy, growing at the rate of 8 to 9 percent per annum, skill development poses major challenges and also opens up unprecedented opportunities. In an increasingly connected world, where national frontiers are yielding to cross-border outsourcing, it is not inconceivable that in the near future India can become a global reservoir of skilled manpower.

Co-ordinated Action on Skill Development, as proposed by Planning Commission, was approved by the Cabinet on May 15, 2008. The action aims at creation of a pool of skilled manpower with adequate skills that meet the employment requirements across various sectors of the national economy. The approved Co-ordinated Action on Skill Development envisaged setting up of a three-tier institutional structure involving Prime Minister’s National Council on Skill Development (NCSD) for policy direction to be supported by National Skill Development Co-ordination Board (NSDCB) and National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). This institutional structure was put in place in 2008 itself.

This volume contains 9 scholarly papers, authored by experts in the field, which provide useful insights into various dimensions, problems and challenges of skill formation in emerging India.