National Policy on Skill Development Framework Ready

Smriti Irani announced that the government has formulated the National Policy on Skill Development and the Vocational Education Qualification Framework

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, the Minister of Human Resource Development, Smriti Irani, announced that the government has formulated the National Policy on Skill Development (NPSD). The broad outlines for the skill development framework in the country will be provided by the policy.

The HRD minister said that the government has put in place an institutional structure for skill development in the country through NPSD. The Prime Minister’s National Council on Skill Development Agency and the National Skill Development Corporation will be included in this structure. “Further, government has created a separate Ministry namely Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship for better coordination and planning of skill development in the country”, Irani said in her speech.

The MHRD has notified a national Vocational Education Qualification Framework (VEQF), “which was a nationally integrated education and competency-based skill framework” she added. The linkages between vocational education and general education by linking one level of learning to a higher level will be provided by the VEQF framework. This will enable learners from any starting point in their education or skill training to move up to a higher level in their education.

“It allows cross mobility of students and their seamless integration into higher learning that enables them to acquire formal degrees and higher skills so that they perform higher level jobs in industry” said Irani further describing the nature of the framework.