Draft:Future Right Skills Network

The Future Right Skills Network (FRSN) is a skill-development initiative in India launched in 2019. It is facilitated by the non-profit Quest Alliance and supported by corporate partners including Accenture, Cisco, JPMorgan Chase, and SAP Labs India. The network works in partnership with the Government of India’s Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and several state governments to strengthen Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and equip youth with 21st-century employability skills. FRSN’s stated goal is to enable one million young people to access quality work opportunities by 2027. The initiative focuses on improving ITI curricula, teacher training, and industry alignment in order to make India’s vocational education system more responsive to the future of work.

History and Background

FRSN was formed in 2019 when Quest Alliance, Accenture, and Cisco partnered with the Directorate General of Training (DGT) under MSDE to offer digital skills training to all students in India’s ITIs. In September 2019, an initial memorandum of understanding was signed with DGT to provide free-of-cost digital economy skills content to ITI students nationwide. The program initially targeted 1.5 million learners via online self-learning content delivered through the government’s Bharat Skills portal and Quest’s learning app. It also introduced a blended learning model, combining e-learning with in-class training, reaching 100,000 students across 227 ITIs in four pilot states (Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Bihar, and Assam). Furthermore, an online toolkit was developed to train ITI instructors as part of the rollout.

In 2020, JPMorgan Chase joined the coalition as an additional funding partner. The partnership with the central government was subsequently extended: in 2021, DGT and FRSN agreed to expand the program for a three-year period (2021–2024) to cover all ITIs in the country, which enroll over 2.5 million students annually. By August 2021, FRSN reported that it had trained approximately 377,000 youth and over 6,600 trainers across 800+ ITIs and National Skill Training Institutes nationwide.

Over time, FRSN grew to involve more stakeholders. By 2023 the network was being implemented in collaboration with nine state governments alongside the central ministry. Additional industry partners also came on board; by 2024 the initiative was described as a collaboration between Accenture, Cisco, JPMorgan, and SAP Labs India (with Quest Alliance as the facilitating partner). State-level agreements have been made to localize the program – for example, state skill development departments in Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and others partnered with FRSN to roll out employability training in ITIs under their jurisdiction. In June 2025, the network’s approach was also adopted in Delhi through an MoU with the Delhi Department of Training and Technical Education, expanding a pilot that initially focused on young women in ITIs to all students in 19 Delhi government technical institutes.

In March 2025, FRSN marked its five-year anniversary, highlighting its role in shaping policy and transforming ITIs through a coalition of government, industry and civil society partners. At this milestone, leaders from DGT and corporate partners noted FRSN’s contribution to aligning vocational training with industry needs and promoting “future-ready” skills among youth. The network continues to support government initiatives to modernize ITIs, with an emphasis on scaling up industry engagement and improving training quality in the coming years.

Objectives and Focus Areas

FRSN’s overarching mission is to make India’s youth future-ready by upgrading the skills training ecosystem. The program focuses on imparting 21st-century skills that are increasingly crucial in the modern workplace. Key content areas include basic digital literacy, effective communication, workplace readiness (soft skills), and exposure to advanced technologies. The standard employability skills curriculum also covers topics such as career development, entrepreneurship, citizenship education, and awareness of diversity and inclusion. These modules are intended to build a self-learning mindset and better prepare trainees for evolving job roles in the digital economy.

To drive systemic change, FRSN works across multiple pillars of intervention. These are: digital public goods (creating and disseminating digital learning content and platforms), system engagement and delivery (working with government systems for effective program implementation), knowledge and innovation communities (bringing together stakeholders to share best practices and innovations), and research, impact & advocacy (measuring outcomes and advocating for policy improvements). Through this multi-pronged approach, the network not only delivers training to students, but also invests in building capacity of ITI instructors, developing new educational resources, and influencing vocational training policy.

Another core objective of FRSN is to foster public-private collaboration in skill development. It serves as a platform that brings together government bodies (such as MSDE, DGT and state departments), industry players, and non-profits to coordinate efforts in the ITI ecosystem. By integrating industry perspectives, FRSN aims to ensure ITI curricula and teaching methods remain aligned with real-world workforce requirements. The network facilitates dialogue between policy-makers and employers, helping to update training content and standards in response to technological and economic changes. This collaborative model is intended to make vocational institutes "demand-driven" – producing graduates with skills that match labor market needs – and to elevate the status and performance of ITIs across India.

Programs and Initiatives

1. Digital and Blended Learning in ITIs: Future Right Skills Network prioritizes modernizing how employability skills are taught in ITIs. A major component is the blended learning program that combines self-paced digital learning with traditional classroom instruction. FRSN leveraged the Bharat Skills e-learning portal of DGT and Quest Alliance’s mobile learning app to make online content available to all ITI students. In parallel, it rolled out in-person training sessions and workshops in select ITIs, supported by trained facilitators. By 2019–20, this blended model was implemented in hundreds of institutes across states like Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Bihar and Assam, reaching an initial batch of 100,000 students. The curriculum for these trainings included modules on digital skills, communication, and workplace readiness, among others. FRSN also introduced an online toolkit for ITI instructors, enabling over 6,600 teachers and trainers to improve their pedagogy and integrate digital content into their classes. This broad-based approach of combining technology with teacher training aimed to make learning more engaging and accessible for the 2.5 million+ youth who enroll in ITIs each year.
2. Employability Skills Curriculum Upgrade: In September 2022, the network played a role in updating the national employability skills curriculum used in ITIs. MSDE officially launched a revamped 120-hour employability skills course in association with Quest Alliance and supported by FRSN. The upgraded curriculum, released in both Hindi and English, expanded the content to include contemporary topics such as digital fluency, entrepreneurship, green economy jobs, and diversity & inclusion, in addition to core life skills. Shorter variants of 30, 60, and 90 hours were also introduced for various training programs. According to MSDE, this modernized syllabus would benefit over 2.5 million students across more than 15,600 government and private ITIs. The initiative aimed to embed employability and soft skills into all vocational courses, thereby enhancing youth confidence and job readiness as they transition into a post-pandemic job market. The curriculum upgrade exemplified FRSN’s collaborative approach: industry partners like Cisco provided input on industry needs, while Quest Alliance and other experts helped design learner-centric content. Educational authorities noted that this public-private effort addressed key training gaps and would better equip graduates with the skills required by modern workplaces.
3. Trainer Development Strategy: In 2024, FRSN contributed to a national strategy focusing on the professional development of vocational trainers and instructors. In May 2024, MSDE announced it had formulated a Trainer Development Strategy for the Skilling Ecosystem, a framework and guidelines document drafted with support from Future Right Skills Network. Quest Alliance facilitated the research and consultation process for this strategy, with inputs and funding from FRSN’s corporate partners (Accenture, Cisco, J.P. Morgan, SAP). The strategy lays out a blueprint to enhance the quality and effectiveness of trainers across both short-term skill programs and long-term ITI courses. Key recommendations include blending digital content into classroom teaching, improving trainer motivation and career progression, and instituting regular up-skilling and performance evaluations for instructors. The aim is to address chronic issues such as shortages of qualified instructors and high attrition in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector. The ministry indicated that the strategy would be piloted in several states to gather feedback from trainers and students before scaling up. FRSN’s involvement in developing this framework underscores its role beyond direct training delivery, extending to capacity-building and policy design to strengthen the overall skilling ecosystem.
4. ITI Grading and Reform Framework: In August 2025, FRSN, in partnership with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), launched a first-of-its-kind grading framework to assess and improve ITIs nationally. Titled “The State of India’s ITIs: A Grading Framework for Readiness and Reform,” the report provides a blueprint for evaluating how well ITIs are preparing students for the future of work. It introduces a comprehensive set of metrics organized under three core pillars: (1) Youth Readiness and Skills (measuring student competencies and outcomes), (2) ITI–Industry Engagement (assessing linkages with employers and alignment of training with industry demand), and (3) Institutional Functioning (looking at infrastructure, faculty, and governance). The framework draws on data from multiple stakeholders, including students, alumni, employers, and institutional records – to generate a 360-degree view of an ITI’s performance. It builds upon the government’s existing grading methodology (used by DGT) but provides more granular, actionable insights to bridge gaps between training institutions and industry needs. The grading tool was officially unveiled by the Skill Development Minister at the Global Skills Summit 2025, underscoring government endorsement. By institutionalizing periodic “health checks” for ITIs, the framework aims to guide targeted investments and reforms as the government implements its ₹60,000 crore ITI upgradation scheme. Quest Alliance’s CEO noted that FRSN’s on-ground experience in over 1,000 ITIs, combined with FICCI’s industry perspective, informed the development of this framework, which is intended to drive data-driven improvements in vocational training centers. This initiative highlights FRSN’s expanded role in shaping policy and providing tools for systemic reform of vocational education in India.
5. State and Community Initiatives: Beyond national programs, the Future Right Skills Network also supports localized interventions to make ITIs more inclusive and effective. For instance, in Delhi, FRSN has been involved in the Future Skills for Thriving Careers program in partnership with the Delhi government’s technical education department. Launched initially in 2017 focusing on female students, this program worked to build career aspirations among young women ITI students by breaking gender stereotypes and improving job readiness. Given its success in improving female placement rates and encouraging women to pursue non-traditional trades, the Delhi government renewed and expanded the program in 2025 as part of the FRSN collaboration. It now includes co-educational ITIs, with continued emphasis on gender inclusivity, industry exposure, and parent engagement to support students’ career development. Similar state-level partnerships exist in other FRSN member states, wherein local governments, industry partners, and NGOs work together (under the FRSN umbrella) to implement employability skill training, conduct teacher workshops, and improve placement support for ITI graduates. These initiatives are tailored to regional needs but align with the network’s overall mission of creating “future-ready” ITIs and narrowing equity gaps in skills training.