COVID-19 will pose new challenges in business environment and will substantially affect the education and career sector, say experts.
Demand-supply mismatch will become the biggest issue after the lockdown period. Unemployment will be high and India will have to face increased inflow of jobless NRIs. Micro, small and medium enterprises will be heavily affected during the COVID crisis, T.P. Sethumadhavan, education and career consultant, says.
However, post lockdown, there would be more job opportunities in sectors involving digital technologies, automation, health care and skill development, Dr. Sethumadhavan, also a consultant to the World Bank, added.
“E-commerce, e-learning, data analytics, augmented reality, machine learning, cyber security, process automation and self-service capabilities will exhibit spectacular growth. Annually, skill institutes across the country are training 10 million youth. These centres are trying to reduce the skill gap between available and required skills,” he said.
Future lies in acquiring skills
Skilling institutions would have a lot of opportunities to offer stakeholder-based market-centred programmes, Dr. Sethumadhavan said. Framework for effective collaboration with industries, edu-tech companies, skill councils, and National Skill Development Corporation would pave the way for offering short-term to medium-level courses. Apprenticeship based on an online mode/blended approach could be effectively delivered by the training providers.
Covid-19 impact on career market could be reduced through series of mitigatory measures, Dr. Sethumadhavan said. “Students or educated youth require appropriate technical, domain and communication skills. Students need to look for potential courses during their undergraduate period to augment their skills. Recruitment and campus placements will be based on skills acquired rather than academic merit. Industries will look for technicians, supervisors and managerial positions based on output of the candidates. National Skill Qualification Frame Work (NSQF) level will emerge as the benchmark-level qualifications for skill assessment.”
Engineering graduates and other graduates could join for managerial programmes where as Diploma, ITI holders could join for supervisory programmes. Those who had finished Class 12 or Class 10 could opt for appropriate technician-level courses. Courses from NSDC-partnered institutions would be preferred, he said.
For those who lost jobs during the recession period, programmes on upskilling or reskilling could be helpful, he said. Construction, infrastructure, manufacturing, management, banking, finance, tourism, hospitality sectors, automobile technology, etc would need appropriate skilling in tune with technology.
