Abstract

Investments in education and training have been considered critical to human capital formation and economic productivity of nations (Ashton et al., 1999). However, globally the nature of investments in education have been changing, with ‘skills formation’ having come to be accepted as one of the key drivers of the economy (Keep and Mayhew, 2010; Nikson, et al., 2003). Skills education is considered critical to the inclusion of the poor and the marginalised into the economy (Gibb and Walker, 2011) and for moving workers from conditions of informality to formality, especially in the context of poor and developing countries (World Bank, 2008). Thus, in the last two decades, over 120 countries have rushed to align their education systems with the requirements of the economy for a ‘skilled workforce’, by developing narrowly defined competency-based frameworks recognised as the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) (Allais, 2014).

The paper reviews these trends in the context of India. Based on a qualitative study analysing the new skills policy and NQF, it presents the disconnects seen between stated policy intentions and actual outcomes on marginalised youth, which seem to reinforce rather than narrow the existing class differences through education. Through this, the paper tries to highlight the paradox of education focused on skill development – that is, its imagined role in ensuring inclusive and equitable development on the one hand, and of creating a global supply chain of cheap labour for corporations, on the other.

Maithreyi, R., Jha, J., Padhmanabhan, S., & Menon, N. (2017). Skills education and workforce preparation: examining the disconnects between policy intentions and outcomes in India. Bengaluru: Centre for Budget and Policy Studies.