National Skill Development Corporation

Also called: NSDC · Topic: Human Capital: Education, Health and Demographic Dividend · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) is a company set up in 2008 as a public-private partnership (PPP), which means the government and private industry run it together. Its job is to fund and push private training providers, so that more young people learn job skills. It does not mainly train people itself. It gives money and support to others who train them. It was set up in 2008, before the skilling ministry existed. It now works under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), which was created in 2014. NSDC matters because India can reap its demographic dividend only if its many young people become employable. The demographic dividend is the gain a country gets from having a large young working population.

Example

NSDC has a partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO). The partnership covers recognition of prior learning (RPL), which means testing and certifying skills a worker already learnt on the job. It also covers digital tools that compare Indian qualifications with what other countries require. With these tools, a hotel worker trained in Assam could have their skills recognised for a job abroad.

Don't confuse with

• MSDE: the government ministry (2014) that makes skilling policy. NSDC is a PPP company that funds and drives training providers.
• NSQF (National Skills Qualifications Framework, 2013): a framework that grades qualifications by level of competence. It is not an organisation, and it gives no funding.

Read more

• Human Capital: Education, Health and Demographic Dividend