About the Scope Foundation Mission
The objective of Scope Foundation is to enable a large number of Indian youth to take up industry-relevant skill training that will help them in securing a better livelihood. Individuals with prior learning experience or skills are also assessed and certified under Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) category.
- Provide fresh skill development training to school dropouts, college dropouts and unemployed youth through short term courses
- Recognise the skill available of the current work force through skill certification
- Engage States in the implementation of the scheme leading to capacity development of the states
- Improved quality of training infrastructure along with alignment of training with the needs of the industry
- Encourage standardization in the certification process and initiate a process of creating a registry of skills
Problem Statement
There is a need for giving emphasis on the Skill Development, especially for the less educated, poor and out of school youth . The skill level and educational attainment of the work force determines the productivity, income levels as well as the adaptability of the working class in changing environment. Large percentage of population in India is living below poverty line. One of the important causes is lower percentage of skilled persons in the workforce.
About the Theme
WHAT IS A SKILL? According to www.businessdictionary.com, a skill is an ability and capacity acquired through deliberate, systematic, and sustained effort to smoothly and adaptively carryout complex activities or job functions involving many areas. If ideas are involved, the skill is called cognitive skill, if things are involved, the skill is known as technical skill and if people are involved, the skill is termed as interpersonal skills.
The skill development at present is taking place mostly in the informal way, i.e. persons acquire skill at the work-place when they help their parents, relatives and employers etc. Such persons do not have a formal certificate and thus earn lower wages and are exploited by employers. They have come through informal system due to socio-economic circumstances of the family and the compulsions of earning a livelihood rather than attending a f formal course. While their productivity is low, their contribution to the national GDP cannot be ignored.
If the country can create a system of certification which not only recognizes their skills but also provides education and training in a mode that suits their economic compulsions, it will not only benefit the workforce to earn a decent living but also contribute to the national economy by better productivity of this workforce.
Skills and knowledge are the driving forces of economic growth and social development of any country. The economy becomes more productive, innovative and competitive through the existence of more skilled human potential. The level of employment, its composition and the growth in employment opportunities are the critical indicator of the process of development in any economy. Increasing pace of globalization and technological changes provide both challenges and growing opportunities for economic expansion and job creation.
With the farming sector unable to provide employment to all those who need it, the sectors like industry, infrastructure, services, finance, defence, etc., are the other avenues open to those who are in need of jobs. The required skills for these sectors have to be developed in the majority of those people who are seeking employment. An appropriate frame work for skill development is needed for women as a means for women empowerment in particular in the rural areas and also in low income occupations in urban areas.
Adequate steps have to be taken by the government to provide vocational training and skill development programmes for rural youth. If those skills can be provided to the people seeking employment either by the Government or other bodies, it will serve two major objectives of the government. While one of those objectives is providing employment to the people, the other is that the manufacturing and service sector should contribute to the vibrant economic activity of the country. This will result in the creation of wealth, both at the individual level and at the national level.
A skilled individual contributes to the growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country, which is the universally accepted yard stick for the economic stability of any country. The constant increase in the GDP reflects in the higher purchasing power of people and an increase in the wealth of the country. This also results in the improved economic activity across the country, thereby contributing more money to the government by way of taxes and thereby enabling the government to allocate more resources for the overall development of the country.
