Connecting the Dots - #NationalSkillsPolicy

Thanks for your overwhelming response to my first update! Truly appreciate all the feedback and inputs!

In this week’s newsletter, I would like to draw attention to the draft National Skills Policy which was put out for public consultations by the Ministry of Skilling and Entrepreneurship, recently. You can access the document here.

We penned our thoughts on this very important policy document and it was published in the Financial Express yesterday. Here is the link to the article:

This is terrific first step in revamping and re-imaging the larger Skills & Entrepreneurship roadmap. We propose that there needs to be a National Entrepreneurship Mission, under which governments, private sector, academia, non-profits and the start-up ecosystem can come together to co-create solutions at local levels. We need to land this Mission in every district through a nodal entity, especially in ‘aspirational districts! The policy should promote rural entrepreneurship by creating framework to identify opportunities, spot talent, provide localized and specific entrepreneurship literacy and knowledge bodies.

In a larger context, another important document was released by the Ministry of Education, Govt of India recently - Parakh Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 National Report. You can access the report here: https://parakh.ncert.gov.in/sites/default/files/2025-07/REPORT_India_IND.pdf

It is essentially a national survey on school education, conducted by the Ministry of Education. It has a sample size of 21 lakh students from 74,000 schools across 781 districts. There are some startling finds regarding core competencies of the students, and the ability of educators. For example, the survey found that only 29% of class 9 students understand percentages and 31% understand fractions. There are no measurements of entrepreneurial thinking, communication skills and agency.

This raises two large issues - how do we repair the damage in the current lot of students and how do we prepare the next batch of students for the rapidly-changing world out there??

My reflections on a few engagements that I had over the last week that has a linkage to these critical issues!

It was heartening to interact with budding entrepreneurs at the first cohort of TiE University. Held at R.V.Institute of Management, Jayanagar, the session saw an incredible turnout with 20 startup teams from top colleges across Bangalore and 50+ student entrepreneurs eager to learn, build, and lead. It shows us that there is an immense talent pool of entrepreneurs across our educational institutions. My post here:

I exhorted the students to engage with local entrepreneurs - and to learn and be inspired by the entrepreneurial grit that surrounds us every day.. heartened to see a few posts by these students:

I feel that this is the type of real-life learning that we need to embed in our colleges. At TiE Bangalore - we are putting together a structure/process to weave this into curriculums and look forward to getting as many colleges to implement this!

Head Held High Foundation has partnered with EkStep Foundation on a pilot initiative in Hubli-Dharwad, Karnataka to enable hyperlocal job matching & bridging the gap between job seekers and employers. By leveraging institutional networks and employer demand to strengthen the local employment ecosystem, the initiative hopes to reimagine employment discovery in regions where the system remains fragmented and exclusionary. The initiative is powered by ONEST (Open Networks for Employment & Skilling Transformation). My post on this here

GAME - Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship has been at the forefront of creating new businesses in Uttar Pradesh, as advisors to the CM Yuva initiative. It is heartening to see how faster, easier access to small pools of capital is unlocking the entrepreneurial energies of our youth. This post highlights one such story!

I also recently participated in Maharashtra Skills Department Brainstorming session at the invitation of the dynamic Additional Chief Secretary Ms. Manisha Verma . There were a lot of ideas and it was refreshingly open interaction with the political and bureaucratic leadership of India’s richest state by GDP size to take the skills and entrepreneurship initiatives to the next level..!

The Karnataka Government - Departments of Science & Technology and IT BT Department, Karnataka led by the dynamic Dr. Ekroop Caur recently held consultations to chart the state’s roadmap as it looks to be a global leader in Quantum Computing. Around 30 of us got together under the leadership of Shri. N.S Boseraju , Shri. M.B. Patil and Shri. Priyank M Kharge to discuss the long-term strategies to build strengths in Quantum Computing. The excitement and conversations made me re-live the heady days of early 2000s of the IT revolutions, when possibilities were endless and the sky was the limit! Quantum Computing.. here we come!

These initiatives were all about unlocking the potential of our young people - both in the present and in the future.. ! I feel that we need to connect the dots better and spread the abundance - love to hear your thoughts/ideas on how we can take it to the next level!

Thanks and look forward to continuing our conversations!