The book focuses on the status of vocational education programs, challenges of achieving quality and attaining competitive excellence in a globalized socioeconomic order, and the role of government and industry in achieving these avowed goals.
India's transition to a knowledge-based economy requires a new generation of educated and skilled people. Its competitive edge will be determined by its people's ability to create, share, and use knowledge effectively. A knowledge economy requires India to develop workers-knowledge workers and knowledge technologists-who are flexible and analytical and can be the driving force for innovation and growth.
Developing skilled workers enhances the efficiency and flexibility of the labor market; skills bottlenecks are reduced, skilled workers are more easily absorbed into the economy, and their job mobility is improved. In this light, an effort is made in this book to describe and analyze governmental skill development initiatives in India. The book also dwells on the need to revive traditional family centric vocations pursued in the rural communities, especially those dying village-based vocations that provide livelihood options to a multitude of socially disadvantaged artisans, and integrate them into the fabric of skill development initiatives in place.
The book provides a systematic understanding of the processes of skill formation and provides several pathways for enhancing entrepreneurial skills in a business ecosystem with a huge knowledge capital gained through skill development initiatives. Toward this end, the book seeks to contribute toward understanding the structures and processes of governance and initiatives for enhancing the quality of skilling programs. The book also dwells on various opportunities and challenges of augmenting a multitude of skilled workforces made available through various skilling initiatives and programs.
Kumar, N. S. Sanath: - N. S. Sanath Kumar was a research fellow at Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru from 1981 to March, 2013. His key areas of interest include elementary education and literacy, and vocational education and skill development. He specializes in large-scale research studies. He is involved in consultancies to the World Bank, National Literacy Mission, Ministry of Human Resources Development, and other state government agencies. He has authored several research publications. He can be reached at devisanath@gmail.com.
Tara, S. Nayana: - S. Nayana Tara was a professor at the Centre for Public Policy, Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru from 1986 to March 2017. She is a recipient of Fulbright Post-Doctoral Fellowship, a member of the Knowledge Commission of Government of Karnataka, and associate editor of the journal of the UK-based Taylor & Francis. She specializes in large-scale research studies, teaching in the postgraduate program and guiding doctoral students at IIMB. She has been a consultant to the World Bank, British High Commission, National Literacy Mission, and MHRD, to name a few. She has authored several books and research publications.
