It is not surprising to know that millions of people who could not pursue a higher or professional education, enter the unorganised sector and start working. The majority of gig workers have experience and skills. They wish to have a degree or a diploma to facilitate their progress and growth for a more rewarding future. They don’t have any certification of their skills except the fact that they are attached to different unorganised sectors and that is their certification. In 2014, as a part of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), a novel scheme – Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) – was floated by the Central government for certifying the skills acquired by workers in the unorganised sectors, through traditional, non-formal learning channels, which makes immense sense, especially in a country where just two percent of the workforce is certified as skilled.
After eight years of the rollout, the RPL has run into some headwinds, with several selected trainees leaving midway through the certification process, a trend that has forced the implementation agencies to attempt a course correction. It aimed to align the competencies of the unregulated workforce of the country to the standardized National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF), which was oriented under the RPL but nothing significant could be achieved for a set of varied reasons.
In tune with the RPL, we need to have in place a mechanism which is not only capable of skilling, reskilling and upskilling youth to deal with gaps regarding skills and competencies, but also be in demand. However, our dream to reap the benefits of skilled human capital will come a cropper if we are not able to ensure that the skills gained, even informally, are recognised and certified. Most of them are from poorer sections of society. We will be doing a great favour to ourselves if we add value to their skills acquired through sheer hard work and perseverance.
As the India Skills Report-2022 also indicates that experienced candidates have higher demand in the job market, the RPL process can help such persons acquire a formal qualification that matches their knowledge and skills, and thus contribute to improving their employability, earn-ability, mobility, lifelong learning, social inclusion and self-esteem, consequently adding to the economic progress of the nation. We have the NSQF that has developed a mechanism for a robust system for assessment, accreditation and certification of prior learning, both in the formal and non-formal education sectors. This framework has been developed to assess an individual’s knowledge, skill and aptitude and grade them with the outcomes of the qualification levels.
In 2018, the Government of India got a study conducted with the help of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), to pilot test the RPL. The results showed that the RPL had a positive effect on various dimensions including income opportunities, occupational safety, social status and openness to further learning. The responses indicated that 60 percent of people desire to upgrade their knowledge and skills and attain higher qualifications. The study report is also indicative of reforms that are required to leverage the RPL as a pathway beside the certification, and use assessments to address the skill gaps by offering bridge training that will further upskill the candidate and help meet the national and international market requirements.
LACK OF AWARENESS
In 2020, a pilot survey was conducted to understand the awareness, advantages, and adoption of RPL in higher education in Haryana. The survey reveals that only 29 percent of industry experts were aware of RPL and 71 percent did not know about it or were partially aware of RPL. However, in the case of academic leader respondents, 55 percent were aware of the RPL. This variation in the awareness about RPL, amongst the industry and academic community, is a matter of concern as it will significantly impact adopting and implementing RPL in the respective organisations as a pathway to development, employment and career progression.
Society, industry and the eligible learning population lack awareness and in absence of any model, the deployment of RPL has not been seen. As an expert in the beauty wellness sector, I strongly feel and recommend that RPL will motivate dropouts and adult learners for furthering their education and skills. In the beauty wellness sector, for the last 6-7 years, we have developed and adopted an assessment model for awarding credits and certification to hundreds of gig workers through RPL.
ASSESSMENTS TO BE EFFECTIVE
An important challenge that needs to be addressed is developing a mechanism for identifying where the skills exist and how the same can be documented and communicated with the eligible desirable candidates. There is a need to develop methods of creating the potential individuals’ portfolios, reviewing them and also methods to assess them through written and oral assessments including demonstration. Assessment tools used under the RPL are not flexible enough to cater to the informal nature of the work of a large mass of workers. Assessment tools currently used are written examinations or structured interviews, and self-assessment forms.
These tools discount workers who are, for instance, working in an urban grocery store as a cleaner and delivery person. The grocery store cleaner would have acquired his skills through sheer practical experience of working there, which cannot be assessed through a written examination. The assessments need to be effectively, qualitatively and transparently aligned to the different levels of the NSQF, to benefit the applicants in long run.
RPL CAN TAP UNRECOGNISED TALENT
The information campaigns, counselling and guidance are key to the success of RPL in higher education. RPL has, for sure, a great potential to tap and realise unrecognised talent by providing pathways to higher qualification and learning. It can surely be an effective mode for employers to upskill and retain aspiring potential resources by offering them higher career opportunities and differentiated wages, linked to higher qualifications and skills. This will also help in an efficient method to address the asymmetries in the Labour Market Information System and provide more qualified and job-ready talent availability information to recruiters.
RPL provides employers with the opportunity to design flexible compensation plans and talent engagement strategies that will boost employee motivation, quality performance and service delivery. Skills recognition and certification initiatives in the informal economy through RPL processes will provide an important pathway for the 90 percent of Indians who work in the unorganised and unstructured sector.
THE WAY FORWARD
The intervention of the government to make more effective execution of RPL policy and practices for higher education explicitly addresses removing the challenges and roadblocks in the path of work-based learning. The approach requires commitment from academics and industry without which it will be difficult to make this policy successful.
Higher education institutions need to create a wing for RPL that defines the comprehensive assessment framework and credit allotment methodology. On the other hand, industries can support by modifying recruitment guidelines to accommodate new programs/qualifications in their recruitment and promotional guidelines besides working with educational institutions in developing effective assessment methodologies for RPL.
The writer is a Co-Founder and MD of Orane International, a Training Partner with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), and a Network Member, of India International Skill Centres, an initiative of GoI. Views expressed are personal.
Read all the Latest Opinions here
Comments
0 comment