Banks, employers, govt can now access your vocational education info

The move is part of an initiative of the National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET), which is controlled by the skills ministry. NCVET shall establish a national repository for skill certificates to help verify skill education records electronically. The national repository shall also give access to stakeholders concerned, including banks that offer loans.

The move will “enable online, quick and reliable verification of certificates by stakeholders such as employers, educational institutes, banks and government agencies. Verifiers will have access to authentic documents at reduced costs and time”, the Union skills and entrepreneurship ministry said.

“A central skill repository will provide a permanent, safe and authentic record of all the skill certificates stored digitally…A digitally stored skill certificate in this repository will be legally at a par with the original,” the Union government said, according to an official document reviewed by Mint. The repository being established will be hosted by DigiLocker, a flagship initiative of the ministry of electronics and information technology under the Digital India Corporation (DIC). All the bodies that award NCVET skill certificates and offer short-term and long-term education will integrate with this repository to digitally store the certificates issued by them.

A central skill repository will bring in more transparency and safety through secure and reliable digital gateways and help in the overall digital transformation of the country,” the Union government said.

At least eight out of every 100 candidates gave misinformation on job applications in 2020, with the IT sector witnessing the highest discrepancy in employee background verification at 16.6%, according to a study by AuthBridge, a background screening and business intelligence firm.

Discrepancies are found during verification of address, employment, identity and educational qualifications, according to AuthBridge.

The Union education ministry has already established a similar repository for mainstream education and aims to integrate vocational education with the mainstream.

“A repository of skill credentials and certificates may also help in the integration of vocational education with mainstream education as the new education policy talks about multidisciplinary education and favours a multiple entry and exit system. Besides, as vocational loans are gradually picking up, such a repository will help track a person better in case he or she defaults on the loan payment,” said a government official who asked not to be named. “The consent of the candidates will be part of this exercise,” the official said.