NITI Aayog has proposed a major overhaul of India's skilling system, calling for vocational and employability training to begin in Class 6 and for hiring practices to move away from an exclusive focus on degrees.
The proposals are part of NITI Aayog's report, ‘Reimagining Skilling for Viksit Bharat@2047’, released on August 18. The report argues that India's skilling efforts need to be judged by whether they lead to employment, higher wages and career progression, rather than by the number of people trained.
NITI Aayog said more than 7.67 crore people have been formally skilled since 2014-15, while the Union Budget for 2025-26 allocated ₹34,000 crore towards skilling-related expenditure across Central ministries. Despite this scale, the report said outcomes remain uneven.
Skilling from Class 6
The report proposes introducing General Employability and Entrepreneurship Skills (GEES) as a separate subject from Class 6 through Class 12.
The curriculum would cover areas including communication, functional English, digital skills, financial literacy, teamwork, problem-solving and entrepreneurship.
Students in Classes 6 to 8 would also receive early exposure to different vocations through projects, industry visits and school-based vocational laboratories where available.
From Class 9, NITI Aayog proposes structured Kaushal Tracks, allowing students to pursue deeper vocational specialisation based on local and national demand.
For Classes 11 and 12, the proposed architecture allows students to follow either an academic or vocational route, with vocational options including sectors such as banking, financial services and insurance, beauty and wellness.
The report noted that fewer than one in 12 secondary schools currently offers vocational subjects, despite the National Education Policy 2020 and National Curriculum Framework calling for vocational education and employability skills to be integrated from Grade 6.
From degrees to skills
NITI Aayog has also identified degree-based hiring norms as one of the barriers to a skills-first employment system.
The report argues that formal qualifications do not always reflect what a person can do at work. It calls for skills-first policies, greater industry involvement and better recognition of skills acquired outside conventional degree programmes.
It proposes wider implementation of the National Credit Framework (NCrF) so that learners can move between academic education, vocational training and employment without losing credits or having to restart their learning.
A Digital Skills Passport has also been proposed to record and validate an individual's skills and competencies.
More apprenticeships, industry involvement
The report also calls for greater use of apprenticeships and stronger public-private partnerships in skilling.
NITI Aayog has proposed outcome-linked financing, where funding is tied more closely to measurable results such as employment and progression. It also wants industry to have a greater role in designing and delivering training programmes.
The report identifies weak links between training institutions and workplaces as a major problem. It says many programmes remain overly theoretical, with limited practical exposure, proof of work, job-readiness support and entrepreneurship pathways.
