 "Sanjeev Duggal, CEO and MD, Centrum Learning")
Of the 211 affiliated training partners of National Skill Development Corporation(NSDC), the top three alone contribute 31.01% of skilling (as per 2014-15 Annual report of NSDC).
In an interaction with Vijay C Roy, Sanjeev Duggal, CEO and MD, Centum Learning, says the government needs to engage with the large ones with bandwidth and track record. Players with high governance standards, quality and scalability need to be relied upon for capacity building, he says. Edited excerpts:
What has been the performance of Centum Learning in skilling?
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As the largest partner of NSDC (for the second consecutive year), we at Centum Learning believe that skilling is the key step for building a skilled nation.
Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) — the flagship outcome-based skill training scheme was launched to impart employability linked skilling program to 24 lakh youth pan India. To build a skilled and employable India, Centum Learning launched a massive outreach programme. The pilot for the outreach campaign was executed in Bihar, with a 2.24 million subscriber base who were targeted as part of this campaign.
Interested candidates were mapped to one of the 136 counselling centres set up by Centum Learning in 38 districts of Bihar. In less than a week of launch, 3,87,408 candidates were profiled and over 40,000 candidates across 38 districts in Bihar were enrolled under various skilling programmes.
These multi-skill centres offer courses for sales associates, computer operators, beauticians, hair stylists, medical sales representatives, mobile repair engineers, helper-plumber etc.
We have also set up three multi skill development centres in Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh. Centum Learning also forayed into the construction and beauty & wellness sectors.
How are your operations doing in India and Africa?
Centum Learning trains in 90 Indian cities and 383 Indian districts. Our content factory and a diverse pool of trainers are at the core of our operations.
Being the first skilling MNC, we harbour dreams to provide workforce to power global youth. Centum Learning has established a strong presence in Africa forging ties with companies in diverse industries. We have localized the training content according to the market and its needs. We have a strong content team.
Trainers are at the core of our operations. We have 200 trainers, of which 190 are Africans. It is important to have local trainers to connect with students.
What is the share of big players in skill training vis-à-vis small players?
I am convinced that partnering large and credible training partners is critical to attaining both quality and scale. Of the 211 affiliated number of training partners of NSDC, only the top three contribute to 31.01% of skilling (as per 2014-15 Annual report of NSDC).
The government needs to engage with the large ones with bandwidth and track record Players with high governance standards, quality and scalability need to be relied upon for capacity building
What are your expectations from the Budget?
All companies involved in skill development should be exempted from Income Tax or Service Tax. There should be no TDS (Tax deducted at Source) on payments made by the government.
Currently, the government makes payment only after TDS, which leads to shortage of cash flow in managing operations. 200% tax benefits should be given to companies spending on CSR in order to further incentivize them.
Further, if CSR funds are spent on skill training, the government should match the same. Also, transparency in funds spent by large industries on skills training must be made mandatory by the government.
What are the challenges before the industry?
Skilling India to empower her citizens, to equip them to compete and excel on a global platform is a multi-pronged challenge. There is a wide gap between supply and demand for trained human resource across industries. There is still an obvious shortage of skills.
The perception of many parents that their children must go into engineering or medicine has proved counterproductive. Our country’s largest dilemma: less than 2% of India's workforce has formal skills and even amongst these only a third today, are armed with employable skills…a colossal waste of our biggest asset: people power.
What should be done to revolutionize the skill sector in India?
Vocational training, skills development and quality education needs to be made available to youth in the remote and rural areas of India. The game changer would be a better
industry-academia-government linkage that creates work-ready human capital. The proposed right to skill will task state governments with the responsibility of imparting vocational training that will be overseen by a regulatory body at the Centre.
While the right to skill has already been enacted in several countries such as Germany and Switzerland, closer home it is present in Chhattisgarh. Moreover, companies must find the right balance between building skills for today and preparing for an uncertain future – which calls for agile learning systems that are scalable, technology-driven and innovative.
