India: Supporting Skill Development in Himachal Pradesh

Sovereign Project | 49108-001

Himachal Pradesh (HP), located in the north of India along the Himalayan range, has a population of 6.8 million. Despite constraints such as its hilly terrain, poor connectivity, and predominantly rural population (90%), HP has shown significant improvement in economic, poverty, education, and health indicators since 2000 owing to the concerted effort of successive governments to invest in infrastructure and improve delivery of basic public services. With the marked increase in secondary school enrolments over the past decade, the Government of HP (GOHP) now faces the _second-generation_ challenge of providing appropriate technical and vocational education training (TVET) opportunities to its youth to prepare them for the fast-changing needs of the job market.

Project Details

  • Project Officer
    Chong, Fook Yen
    South Asia Department
    Request for information
  • Country/Economy
    India
  • Modality
    • Technical Assistance
  • Sector
    • Education

Related Projects

Project Name Supporting Skill Development in Himachal Pradesh
Project Number 49108-001
Country / Economy India
Project Status Closed
Project Type / Modality of Assistance Technical Assistance
Source of Funding / Amount
TA 9060-IND: Supporting Skill Development in Himachal Pradesh
Technical Assistance Special Fund US$ 500,000.00
TA 9060-IND: Supporting Skill Development in Himachal Pradesh (Supplementary)
Technical Assistance Special Fund US$ 225,000.00
TA 9060-IND: Supporting Skill Development in Himachal Pradesh (Supplementary)
Technical Assistance Special Fund US$ 150,000.00
Strategic Agendas Inclusive economic growth
Drivers of Change Gender Equity and Mainstreaming
Governance and capacity development
Knowledge solutions
Partnerships
Private sector development
Sector / Subsector

Education / Technical and vocational education and training
Gender Equity and Mainstreaming Gender equity
Description Himachal Pradesh (HP), located in the north of India along the Himalayan range, has a population of 6.8 million. Despite constraints such as its hilly terrain, poor connectivity, and predominantly rural population (90%), HP has shown significant improvement in economic, poverty, education, and health indicators since 2000 owing to the concerted effort of successive governments to invest in infrastructure and improve delivery of basic public services. With the marked increase in secondary school enrolments over the past decade, the Government of HP (GOHP) now faces the _second-generation_ challenge of providing appropriate technical and vocational education training (TVET) opportunities to its youth to prepare them for the fast-changing needs of the job market. The proposed project will assist GOHP in increasing the employability of its youth and improving their employment prospects by modernizing and reforming the state's TVET programs, aligning it to the needs of the market through public private partnerships (PPP), and improving overall quality and outcome of TVET programs.
Project Rationale and Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy Between fiscal year (FY) 2004 -2005 and FY2013 -2014, HP's economy grew at 7.8% as compared to the Indian economy which grew at 7.6%. Overall poverty declined from 22.9% to 8.1% between FY2004 -2005 and FY2011 -2012. Decline in rural poverty from 25.6% to 8.5% was commendable. Nearly all villages in HP have access to electricity. Two-thirds of rural households in HP have sanitation facilities as compared to all India average of 30.7%. Life expectancy in HP at 70 years is higher than the national average of 66.1 years. Overall literacy rate has improved and the gender gap has narrowed steadily. In FY2013 -2014, the gross enrolment rate at the secondary and higher secondary levels in HP was 120 and 96 respectively as compared to 76 and 52 for India. Owing to high female literacy and improved access to basic health, education, and family planning services, HP's fertility rate in 2013 was 1.7, which is lower than the replacement level. HP has a narrow demographic window till 2022 after which, the share of the working age population (15 -59 years) will begin to decline. The GOHP is keen to take advantage of this demographic window by boosting the TVET level of its youth. Despite the increase in secondary school enrolment and improvement in literacy levels, HP is constrained by the low employability of its school and college graduates. The challenge of _educated unemployment_ is growing. Like in the other states of India, general education at the secondary and college levels is not adequately aligned to the needs of the market. TVET programs in HP are fragmented across 12 government departments. There are no uniform benchmarks for quality assurance, outcomes, certification, or costs. Owing to outdated curricula and delivery methods, weak industry-linkage, and poor placement record, TVET is not viewed as a viable career option by HP''s youth. Consequently, there continues to be heavy dependence on government jobs in HP which is neither fiscally sustainable, nor economically productive. Further, a sharp mismatch has arisen between HP''s economic and employment profiles over time. Between FY2004 -2005 and FY2013 -2014, the share of the primary sector in HP''s gross domestic product declined from 25% to 19%, of the secondary sector remained stable at 38%, and that of the tertiary sector increased from 36% to 43%. However, as of FY2013 -2014, 58.5% of the workforce continues to be employed in the primary sector, 22.5% in the secondary sector, and only 19% in the services sector. It is estimated that between 2017 and 2022, there will be a net demand for 515,557 skilled workers. Yet, as of FY2011 -2012, nearly 90% of HP''s current workforce has not been exposed to any TVET training. HP''s TVET system needs to be reformed and scaled up on a priority basis to equip its youth with the skills required to make the transition from primary to secondary to tertiary jobs. In September 2015, GOHP established a skill development corporation the HPKVN as an autonomous body under the Department of Planning to deliver the mandate of the HPSDM by bringing about convergence across the TVET programs being run by different departments, and aligning all training with the competency levels specified in India''s NSQF and other national quality assurance and certification norms. There will be industry representation in HPKVN's Board to strengthen market links and catalyze PPPs in training and assessment. HP is one of the first few states including Kerala and Haryana to introduce vocational education at the secondary level successfully. GOHP aims to build on this by integrating vocational education at the college level so that a TVET career path can also be opened up for students pursuing general education. This project will modernize and reform HP''s TVET institutional framework, scale up the state's annual TVET training capacity by 17,000, and align it to the needs of the market so that the employment prospects of HP''s youth improves.
Impact
Project Outcome
Description of Outcome
Progress Toward Outcome
Implementation Progress
Description of Project Outputs
Status of Implementation Progress (Outputs, Activities, and Issues)
Geographical Location Nation-wide, State of Himachal Pradesh
Summary of Environmental and Social Aspects
Environmental Aspects
Involuntary Resettlement
Indigenous Peoples
Stakeholder Communication, Participation, and Consultation
During Project Design The primary stakeholders (and beneficiaries) of the project are HP''s urban and rural youth belonging to low-income households, and students studying in government colleges and TVET institutions. Secondary stakeholders include the parents of these youth, teachers, vocational training providers, potential employers, non-government organizations, GOHP, and industry. The project is being designed in close consultation with these stakeholders. While undertaking the technical and safeguards assessment, additional consultations will be held focusing in particular, on women, poor students, and their families.
During Project Implementation
Business Opportunities
Consulting Services A total of 64 person-months of consulting inputs has been provided under the TA. ADB has engaged a firm (49 person-months for 12 national and 1 international consultant) as well as 3 individual consultants. The selection and engagement of consulting inputs was carried out in accordance with ADB's Guidelines on the Use of Consultants (2013, as amended from time to time). The consulting firm was selected on the basis of simplified technical proposal in accordance with quality and cost based selection procedures. A quality to cost ratio of 90:10 was followed.
Procurement All TA-financed good will be procured in line with ADB's Procurement Guidelines (2015, as amended from time to time). All disbursements under the TA will be done in accordance with ADB's Technical Assistance Disbursement Handbook (2010, as amended). The TA will be implemented over 13 months which commenced in February 2016 and completion in April 2017.
Responsible ADB Officer Chong, Fook Yen
Responsible ADB Department South Asia Department
Responsible ADB Division Human and Social Development Division, SARD
Executing Agencies
Department of Planning, Govt of Himachal Pradesh
Yojna Bhawan, HP Secretariat, Shimla, 171 002
Timetable
Concept Clearance -
Fact Finding -
MRM -
Approval 16 Dec 2015
Last Review Mission -
Last PDS Update 25 Sep 2017

TA 9060-IND

Milestones
Approval Signing Date Effectivity Date Closing
Original Revised Actual
16 Dec 2015 26 Feb 2016 26 Feb 2016 30 Apr 2017 30 Apr 2018 24 Jul 2018
Financing Plan/TA Utilization Cumulative Disbursements
ADB Cofinancing Counterpart Total Date Amount
Gov Beneficiaries Project Sponsor Others
875,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 875,000.00 17 Jun 2022 872,742.27

Project Data Sheets (PDS) contain summary information on the project or program. Because the PDS is a work in progress, some information may not be included in its initial version but will be added as it becomes available. Information about proposed projects is tentative and indicative.

The Access to Information Policy (AIP) recognizes that transparency and accountability are essential to development effectiveness. It establishes the disclosure requirements for documents and information ADB produces or requires to be produced.

The Accountability Mechanism provides a forum where people adversely affected by ADB-assisted projects can voice and seek solutions to their problems and report alleged noncompliance of ADB's operational policies and procedures.

In preparing any country program or strategy, financing any project, or by making any designation of, or reference to, a particular territory or geographic area in this document, the Asian Development Bank does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area.

Safeguard Documents See also: Safeguards
Safeguard documents provided at the time of project/facility approval may also be found in the list of linked documents provided with the Report and Recommendation of the President.

None currently available.

Evaluation Documents See also: Independent Evaluation

None currently available.

Related Publications

None currently available.

The Access to Information Policy (AIP) establishes the disclosure requirements for documents and information ADB produces or requires to be produced in its operations to facilitate stakeholder participation in ADB's decision-making. For more information, refer to the Safeguard Policy Statement, Operations Manual F1, and Operations Manual L3.

Requests for information may also be directed to the InfoUnit.

Tenders

No tenders for this project were found.

Contracts Awarded

Contract Title Approval Number Contract Date Contractor | Address Executing Agency Total Contract Amount (US$) Contract Amount Financed by ADB (US$)
Project Preparatory Technical Assistance 9060 15 Apr 2016 PriceWaterhouseCoopers Private Limited (India) | #8-2-293/82/A/1131A; Road No. 36, Jubile derabad, India/Andhra Pradesh 500 034 In 17th Flr,Bldg10,TowerC,DLF Cyber City Gu Department of Planning, Government of Himachal Pradesh 390,457.00 —

Procurement Plan

None currently available.