Education ministry, World Bank report flags skills gap; BFSI, digital media ‘must be top priority for schools

NEW DELHI: A new education ministry report reveals that schools should prioritise skill courses in banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), digital media and design technologies, and certain agricultural and allied sectors.

The World Bank study, Jobs at Your Doorstep: A Jobs Diagnostics for Young People in Six States, showed that despite the difference in demography and geography, BFSI and digital media sectors face high demand with low to almost nil teaching.

The report covering Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Rajasthan, also highlights that services sector jobs and agriculture income enhancement present large opportunities for school-based skilling.

“The report is a skills gap analysis that attempts to align trades offered in schools with industry-specific needs of the districts where the schools are present. The study was initiated to reimagine the skill education offering through in-depth primary as well as secondary research in the six STARS (Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States) states,” said the report.

Sectors and corresponding trades with high job demand

Under agriculture and allied sectors, the report highlights the need for curriculum customisations with focus on local area needs.

The focus areas include:

• Farm Productivity and Agronomy

• Horticulture and Gardening

• Dairy Farming and Livestock Health

• Aquaculture and Fisheries

For instance, states like Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan show high demand for farm productivity and agronomy, yet there were no schools offering the course.

Kerala, Rajasthan and Maharashtra demonstrate potential in dairy farming and livestock health but the number of schools offering the course is very low.

The service sector presents opportunities in roles, including sales executive, front desk and office management, nursing and diagnostic roles, defence roles, gym trainers, nutritionists and others. The beauty and wellness sector have large self employment opportunities with states like Kerala showing high demand despite no available course. Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan maintain better demand and supply balance in this sector.

Under the manufacturing sector, the job roles with high demand include that of welders, fitters, machine operators, auto repair and servicing roles, plumber, electrician and repairing roles primarily for electronics, machines etc.

Talking about the need to begin skilling at schools, union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said, “Such in-depth diagnostics on skilling and jobs will enable stakeholders to create new architectures and make progressive policies for empowering our population. Technological disruptions will change the nature of jobs and economic activities and it is needed to continuously up-skill and re-skill the workforce for future-proofing them.”

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BFSI and digital media skills

Digital media and design technologies face high demand across all six states but with a supply gap. While in Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh the number of schools offering the course is low, in others there are no schools offering the course. However, Kerala uniquely shows moderate BFSI demand despite high skilling capacity.

On the other hand, state-specific skill matches vary. Rajasthan excels in horticulture and gardening, front office and hospitality/tourism, IT software and development.

For Kerala too, skilling capacity is high in electronics and hardware, and front office and hospitality. In Madhya Pradesh, beauty and wellness, and IT software development and support, are the sectors where demand and supply are both high.

While in Maharashtra, the potential of electronics and hardware sector is fully realised, Odisha excels in front office and hospitality, sales and marketing and IT software development and support.