India's workforce unskilled? Only 5 percent certified

Pointing out that enhancing the skill sets of the workforce in the country is a challenge, President Pratibha Patil regretted that large chunk of workforce in India did not have skill certification, contrary to the developed countries.

As reported by the Indian Express, the President said, "Only five percent of the workforce in India has some kind of certification. This is in contrast to over 85 percent in the developed countries. Encouragement of work-integrated learning followed by examination, certification and accreditation through distance education will be of help. However, to make it effective there would be a need for active two way collaboration with industry and other players." Participating in the silver jubilee celebrations of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Pratibha Patil said that the open university system being flexible and innovative can be useful for a wide section of society and should help in improving skill sets.

The President also said that the spread of education among women is very important. "By spreading education amongst them, not only is an individual educated, but rather the seeds of progress of the next generation are planted," she added.

Moreover, Pratibha Patil said that the gross enrollment ratio (GER) in India in higher education is very low as compared to the world average. She pointed out that strenuous efforts are required to reach our goal of enhancing the GER in India to 20 percent by 2020.