NITI Aayog chief urges integration of skill training into India’s education system

India’s education system must integrate skill development into mainstream learning to ensure employability and higher wages, NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer BVR Subrahmanyam said at the Bengaluru Skill Summit.

Highlighting structural gaps in the country’s approach, he said the lack of general employability training in schools and universities lies “at the root of the problem India is currently facing.”

“Our curriculum lacks general employability skill training, and as a result, a majority of our population remains hugely unskilled, doing very low-paying jobs or staying unemployed,” he said.

Subrahmanyam emphasized that skill development should no longer be treated as an optional or parallel effort.

“We are putting people in silos and treating skilling as something separate. It must become an integral part of the education system, accessible to people of all ages, 20, 30, 40, 50, or even 60,” he said.

He added that India’s nearly 500 million farmers also require structured, continuous training to adopt modern practices and sustain productivity growth.

Pointing to India’s demographic advantage, the NITI Aayog chief cautioned that without focused investment in human capital, the same strength could become a burden.

“If we don’t invest in our people, the demographic advantage can become a curse,” he warned. “Only a skilled, employable, well-earning workforce will power India to become a $30 trillion economy by 2047.”

To bridge the education-employment divide, Subrahmanyam called for large-scale creation of integrated institutions that combine academic, skill, and vocational training.

He also suggested a national platform to map skill sets, link job seekers with employers, and allow interoperability between education and workforce systems.

Such a system, he said, would help define emerging job roles, chart clearer career pathways, and improve employment outcomes.

On the rise of artificial intelligence, Subrahmanyam said the technology would “remove roles, not jobs,” estimating a shift of about 4 million existing positions while creating 6 million new ones.

“The opportunities that AI brings will depend entirely on how fast we reskill and redeploy our people,” he added.

His remarks underscored the growing need to align education and skilling reforms with industry demands as India works to expand its manufacturing and digital economy while preparing its workforce for the future.