Dharmendra Pradhan pitches for education, skill development under one umbrella

Union Minister for Petroleum and Gas Dharmendra Pradhan is in the view of allowing education and skill development to grow simultaneous under one platform.

Speaking at a press conference hosted by Sri Sri University in Cuttack, Pradhan, who also holds the charge of Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, said: "When I took charge (September this year), I was told that there are 50 crore people out of 130 crore people in the country who are working in different workplaces".

Pradhan emphasized that in a developed economy, 90 percent of the population is skilled. However, in India, only 10 percent are skilled workers.

The minister, while expressing concern over these figures, noted: "There are so many loops in the governance system. We use conventional methods to rate the skills of the workers. The day-to-day economic activities are not recorded. This is hampering our economic system."

Pradhan inspired the students to follow the guidance steps of spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who was also present in the occasion.

He praised him by saying: " Guruji (Ravi Shankar) has shown us that doing yoga is beneficial for our lives. I also share his concern regarding the development of skilled workers in India. He has done a very good work for the society and continues to be an inspiration for others".

The minister further noted that a new ecosystem has to be created and bring in the skilled people under the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) network. Also, he is in favour of short-term and long-term skill training courses to be developed in the university.

Pradhan said: "Education and skill are two contradictory things. These two are multidirectional activities in our country. In a developed economy, there is no barrier. A medical student is becoming a driver and an engineering student is working in a restaurant for his earnings. But, this is not the same in India".

The minister also shared his concerns that according to experts, in the next 25 years, 50 percent of job roles would disappear from the economic world. New things are coming up such as machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, driverless cars and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The current formal education system does not address these issues.

Pradhan also wished that the issue would be solved by the creation of a new ecosystem in the university.

He finally said: "This new ecosystem will benefit the youngsters of our country. Hopefully, Guruji (Ravi Shankar) will help our mission to succeed and create new benchmarks for the youngsters working in different spheres of life." 

-ANI