Prez laments poor skill certification among workforce

President Pratibha Patil today lamented that large chunk of workforce in India did not have skill certification contrary to the developed countries as she pushed for imparting skills to them through distance education.

"Only five per cent of the workforce in India has some kind of certification. This is in contrast to over 85 per cent in the developed countries. Enhancing the skill sets is a challenge in the country," she said at the silver jubilee celebration function of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) here.

Patil, however, put emphasis on distance education and use of technology as a major medium to promote skill development.

"Encouragement of work-integrated learning followed by examination, certification and accreditation through distance education will be of help," she said at the function attended by HRD Minister Kapil Sibal.

There would be a need for collaboration with industry and other players to achieve the objective, Patil said. "I believe that Open Universities should also generate a movement in the rural areas that will impel people to acquire knowledge and skills for self-empowerment," she said.

Patil launched a Gyan Deep programme, a special programme being started by IGNOU in collaboration with Indian Army to create a process of certification of higher education of soldiers.