The ministry of skills development and entrepreneurship proposes to tweak the definition of skilling to align with international standards while suggesting financial and non-financial incentives for all stakeholders to undertake large-scale, outcome-oriented skilling with emphasis on enhanced quality and employability. These suggestions are part of the draft National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, 2025, prepared by the ministry of skills development and entrepreneurship (MSDE), 10 years after the first policy was introduced in 2015.

“The ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship has undertaken an exercise for review and revision of the National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015. This has been necessitated considering rapid transformation in technology, emerging market requirements, changing global scenario, and evolving skilling and entrepreneurship landscape,” it said.

The ministry has sought suggestions from the general public and domain experts on the draft policy, which will be the guiding framework for next 10 years, till June 30 following which the revised policy will be notified.

“A critical starting point is to reflect on the definition of skilling,” the ministry said in the draft policy. Citing the UNESCO definition of skilling, which also focuses on technical, transversal and behavioural skills, the ministry said these elements enable lifelong learning through which individuals continuously acquire new skills to remain relevant in a dynamic environment.

The draft policy has proposed Skill Mudra, Impact Bond 2.0, Corporate Patronage Programme and Grassroot Engagement Programme as key incentives for skilling institutions, employers and learners to drive scale and improve quality of skilling.Besides, it has proposed improving infrastructure, enabling policy reforms and fostering collaboration to strengthen the skilling system while also suggesting a more effective and outcome driven delivery mechanism that is aligned with industry requirements.The aim is to have 50% of the country’s labour force to be skilled (including skilling, upskilling and reskilling), assessed and certified by 2035 with 50% participation from women and other minority groups.

The policy envisages setting broad guidelines rather than rigid rules and requirements for further development of the entrepreneurship ecosystem and to drive ease of doing and growing business.

The draft national policy focuses on scale, quality and inclusion and seeks to establish clarity, coherence and convergence for skill development and entrepreneurship promotion efforts across the country while also linking skill development and entrepreneurship promotion to the improved employability and productivity outcomes.

It has outlined key principles, thrusts and enablers that will help realize the aspirations of the new revised policy.