Skill on, India: ELearning & Learning Technology look as promising as ever in India

Skills development is no longera luxury (if at all it ever was!), but rather an urgent necessity. Everyindustry and every country is facing skills gap challenges in one way oranother as there is no outrunning technological and workplace disruptions. Highly-skilledand talented labor is the driving force behind every nation’s economic as wellsocial growth, especially in a country like India.

And, believe it or not, India isholding strong and rising up to the task, be it through governmentinterventions, HR and L&D investments from blue chip companies, or thegrowing crop of skilling and training platforms available in the market today. Joinme as I take a look at some positive announcements, FDIs in education in Indiaand the promise of a better ‘eLearning’ future.

Skill on, India

Recentestimates suggest that nearly half of India’s population is below the age of 25 and the averageage of the population is set to reach 29 by 2020. The nation sits unbalancedatop a scale that has equally chances of going either way - India’s demographicdividend will either boost the economic growth OR fizzle out with disappointingoutcomes. And, the plane where the scale stands (bear with the analogy), is thecountry’s struggle with unemployment, lack of employment opportunities, rising skillsgaps and technology adoption.

Indiahas been one of the fastest growing economies in the world, for quite sometime, and continues to lead the race, which is to say that India stands tobenefit largely from its employable population. But wait, with 104.62 million-strong workforce set to enter thelabor market by 2022, with only 1% of the population making up 22% ofnational income, India’s skills gap poses a terrible threat to the promiseof economic growth.

Afar more relevant question then arises – CAN India address this, and how?

Shortanswer – YES, it can… How? Let’s findout.

Certainly,global organizations have long seen the skills gap challenges hurtling towardsthem, including their counterparts in India. It’s not like Indian enterprisesare not privy to the fact that workforce development with in-demand knowledgeand skills is the call to action to effectively complement the country’sgrowth. But, come on, let’s face it, this has got to be a combined effort whereIndia diverse industries embrace and propagate skills training for theiremployees with meaningful certifications, including effective and sustainablelong-term skills development strategies.

Insufficient training facilitiesor opportunities, a stark mismatch between formal education and industry(skills) demands, along with limited industry inputs are some of the, let’scall them ‘overlooked’, hurdles standing in the way of India’s economic growth.And, to addressthis Indian organizations are slowly but surely defining and adoptingefficient, scalable and sustainable employee training programs. With globaltechnology titans like Amazon, Google and Microsoft marking a larger presenceacross India, the country’s corporate sector is being significantly influencedby global L&D practices. Leading organizations across the country are nowleveraging the bestlearning management systems, modern learning libraries and innovative learn-tech tools.

Recent news coming out ofIndia’s eLearning trades is that two of the country’s biggest software companies,Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys, are looking to make availabletheir organizational eLearning courses to outside users. Although a step towardsopening up new revenue streams, considering the bigger picture, this stillholds a promise of giving positive dividends to the demographic.

In similar news, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) recentlyproposed attracting foreign institutions and foreign direct investment (FDI) inIndia’s education sector to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal. Okay, some background –education in India has been not-for-profit, where the (surplus) cash generatedcould be invested back into the said institute. Ahead of the proposed move, anIndian government official cited that the urban development ministry ispresently chalking out a scheme - Knowledge Cities – similar to specialeconomic zones (SEZs). Likewise, the move has garnered positive responses sinceIndia’s Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman suggested in the 2020-21 budgetspeech that FDI in education would be promoted.

Clearly, lot of positivemovement happening in India’s education and learning sector that will surelyprovide some dividends in the years to come. And, learning technology solutionsand eLearning will continue to bring key advantages to India’s corporatesector. A country as economically, geographically and culturally diverse asIndia will benefit from the wide ranging learn-tech solutions, including theirreplaceable Learning Management System (LMS), Mobile Learning, blended learning, social learning and online learning libraries.

Takeaway

In light of such positive announcements,despite of the increasing skills gap facing India, it’s time for Indian enterprisesto prioritize L&D and ardently integrate eLearning and learning technologyinto India’s fledgling corporate sector; because learning is lifelong andtechnology is indispensable. Simply put, learning technology and eLearning aremust-haves for skill development in India, and it’s encouraging to know thatthe government and Indian enterprises are taking steps in the right direction.

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