No need for a costly lab in every college, but every student should have access to one Laboratories and Workshops of ITIs, Polytechnics, Engineering Colleges, Universities, Private and Trust-run Institutions and Industries Can be Shared Saraswati Mechatronics Centre at Vidya Bhawan is an inspiring Working Model Udaipur, India’s skilling challenge is no longer about simply creating more training centres. The bigger challenge is to ensure that every student gets access to affordable, high-quality and industry-relevant skills, irrespective of the financial capacity of the student or the institution. A new NITI Aayog report, Reimagining Skilling for Viksit Bharat@2047,just released , proposes a significant shift in the way India approaches skilling—towards shared infrastructure, flexible learning pathways, stronger industry participation, apprenticeships, affordable financing and employment-linked outcomes. For districts such as Udaipur, the report presents an opportunity to build a *District Skill Hub*, where laboratories and workshops of ITIs, polytechnics, engineering colleges, universities, private and trust-run institutions and industries can be shared by students. The principle is simple,"Every institution need not own every laboratory, but every student should have access to the laboratory needed for learning." 7.67 crore trained, but outcomes remain uneven: The scale of India's skilling challenge is enormous. According to the NITI Aayog report, more than 7.67 crore people have been trained since 2014-15 , while the Union Budget for 2025-26 allocated around ₹34,000 crore towards skilling-related expenditure across multiple Central Ministries. Yet, the report says outcomes remain uneven and calls for a fundamental rethink of the skilling ecosystem. The challenge is not only employment but the quality and security of employment. Degree without skills - the bigger higher-education challenge : Vidya Bhawan Polytechnic principal Dr Anil Mehta said one of the strongest messages from the report is that India's higher-education system must move beyond the conventional idea of a degree as the end point of education. “The real question is not how many degrees we award, but how many young people acquire skills that enable them to earn, progress and build a sustainable livelihood,” he said. The problem of conventional undergraduate education is also substantial as they are opted with government jobs in mind.. BA, BSc and BCom are not linked to skill trainings . The answer, Mehta said, is not to dismiss conventional degrees but to make them more relevant to the changing labour market. Therefore ,a future-oriented model could be: Degree plus employable skill plus internship/apprenticeship plus industry project plus recognised skill credential. Thus, a BCom student could combine the degree with digital marketing or analytics; a BSc student with data analytics; a BA student with tourism and hospitality; and diploma students with EV technology, solar technology, CNC, automation or other emerging areas. “This would make skill development a part of mainstream higher education rather than something students pursue separately after completing their degrees,” Mehta said. District Skill Hub could solve the infrastructure problem : One of the most significant recommendations in the NITI Aayog report is to address the fragmentation and under-utilisation of existing skilling infrastructure . Across departments and institutions, laboratories, workshops, hostels and community spaces often remain under-utilised even as other institutions struggle to provide students with practical facilities. The report proposes a *State or National Shared Skills Infrastructure Network, using tools such as PM Gati Shakti and SIDH, to identify, map, digitise and enable shared use of existing assets. It specifically calls for implementation through a **district-first approach*, with accountability at the district level. Mehta said the idea could be translated into a *District Skill Hub*. A district could map all its available facilities: ITI workshops, Polytechnic and Engineering college labs, University facilities, Government colleges, Private and trust-run institutions and the Industry facilities . For instance, if one institution has a CNC machining laboratory, another has an EV and automobile laboratory, a third has robotics and automation , and an industry has advanced manufacturing or digital technology facilities, all of these could become part of a common district skill network. Students could then access these facilities according to a common timetable. The economic logic is compelling : A small private or trust-run college may not be able to invest ₹1-2 crore in a sophisticated laboratory and then spend continuously on technology upgrades. But it may be able to participate in a district network and provide its students access to such a facility. “This changes the question from Can every institution afford every laboratory?

to Can every student access the laboratory he or she needs?,” Mehta said. The cost of skilling: students cannot always pay : Affordability is another major issue highlighted by the report. The cost of acquiring a skill is not limited to tuition fees. It includes equipment and training materials, transportation, accommodation, digital access and the income a learner may forgo while undergoing training . The report therefore identifies affordability as a systemic barrier, particularly for economically vulnerable learners. For such students, simply expanding education loans may not be enough. The report proposes *targeted skill vouchers and scholarships*, along with a skill-financing mechanism that can include placement-linked repayment of loans. The basic principle should be," A student's financial condition should not determine whether he or she can acquire an employable skill." A skill voucher or scholarship could follow the student, allowing him or her to select an approved course or training provider rather than being restricted to a particular institution. Institutions also need a financing solution : The affordability problem exists on the supply side as well. Many smaller colleges, polytechnics, ITIs and trust-run institutions cannot continuously invest in advanced robotics, automation, EV, AI, solar, CNC and other emerging-technology laboratories. The answer, Mehta said, lies in a Government–Education Institution–Industry partnership. Government can provide: capital support, viability-gap funding, scholarships and skill vouchers. The Institutions can provide: buildings, classrooms, faculty and access to students. And the Industry can provide machinery, technology, trainers, curriculum inputs, maintenance, apprenticeships and employment opportunities. The objective should be to make industry not merely a donor of equipment under CSR, but a long-term co-owner of the skilling ecosystem. The NITI Aayog report similarly calls for greater industry co-ownership, PPP-based models and stronger links between training and workplace requirements. Udaipur already has a working example: Saraswati Mechatronics Center : Interestingly, Udaipur has already experimented with precisely this approach. Mehta said that around six years ago, the Saraswati Mechatronics Centre was established at Vidya Bhawan with the inspiration of industrialist Salil Singhal, creating a practical model of industry-linked technical skilling. The centre has facilities for CNC, automation, robotics and mechatronics, along with scholarship support for students. “The experience demonstrates that when industry knowledge, institutional infrastructure and practical training are brought together, advanced skilling can be made possible even without every educational institution independently investing in expensive infrastructure,” Mehta said. The next step, he added, is to scale such models from individual institutions to a district-wide ecosystem. ITI and diploma education must stop being seen as a second choice : The NITI Aayog report also calls for changing the perception of vocational and technical education. The ITI and diploma programmes should not be viewed merely as alternatives for students who could not pursue conventional degrees. They need to become credible pathways to employment, entrepreneurship and higher education. The emerging architecture envisages greater flexibility between certificate, diploma and degree pathways through the National Credit Framework (NCrF), while apprenticeships and work experience can become recognised components of learning. This could create multiple pathways: School to ITI to Diploma to Degree or School to Degree to Skill specialisation to Apprenticeship to Employment or Work experience to Recognition of Prior Learning to Skill certification to Diploma/Degree. The objective is to ensure that a student does not have to start from scratch every time he or she changes direction. Skilling must start in school : The reform cannot begin at college level alone. The report proposes General Employability and Entrepreneurship Skills (GEES) for all schools , along with early exposure to vocational education through project-based learning and exposure visits. Students in Grades 6-8 could be introduced to communication, digital literacy, financial literacy, teamwork, problem-solving and entrepreneurship, along with exposure to different occupations. From Grade 9, students could move into structured Kaushal Tracks, while Grades 11-12 could provide deeper specialisation, internships and apprenticeships. Again, this does not mean that every school needs to build an expensive workshop. Schools can share district-level infrastructure. Larger schools can serve as vocational hubs, while students from neighbouring schools can access specialised facilities through the District Skill Hub. From certificates to careers : Perhaps the biggest change proposed by NITI Aayog is in the way skilling programmes should be evaluated. The question should no longer be: How many people were trained?

It should be: How many got jobs?, How many increased their incomes? How many remained employed after six or 12 months?

How many became entrepreneurs?

How many progressed to higher education or higher-level skills?

The report therefore places employability, progression and livelihoods at the centre of the new skilling architecture. This would also make training providers more accountable for outcomes rather than simply enrolment and certification. Udaipur can develop its own District Skill Demand Map : Dr Mehta said Udaipur could be among the districts to translate the recommendations into a practical district-level strategy. The first step should be a District Skill Demand Mapping exercise to identify what skills local industries and employers will require over the next five to 10 years. For Udaipur, this could cover mechatronics, tourism and hospitality, handicrafts, MSMEs, engineering, bio-engineering, construction, solar energy, digital technology, cyber security, agriculture and allied sectors. The demand map could then be matched with the existing capacity of schools, ITIs, polytechnics, colleges, universities and industries. This would prevent different institutions from unnecessarily running identical programmes while expensive infrastructure remains under-utilised elsewhere. The bigger message: from ‘Training India’ to ‘Learning-to-Earning India : Dr Mehta said the NITI Aayog report provides an opportunity to move away from fragmented training programmes towards an integrated, lifelong learning and earning ecosystem. Its proposed architecture emphasises flexible pathways, mainstreaming skills into education, stronger links between learning and work, affordable outcome-linked programmes, recognition of prior learning and portable credentials. The larger shift, therefore, is from “Training India” to “Learning-to-Earning India” , where education does not end with a certificate or degree, but creates a continuing pathway from learning to skill, skill to work, and work to a dignified livelihood.