Metaverse: The answer to universalizing skilling in India

By Manav Subodh

What is metaverse? 

Well, have you ever used a VR headset? Have you gone on a virtual tour of a city or a museum using AR technology? Have you played an online game that is completely immersive? If you have done any of these, you may have already experienced the spoils that Metaverse has to offer. By combining the powers of social networking, AI, AR and VR – Metaverse offers endless possibilities to imagine a newer and just society. 

Currently, India’s AR and VR Market stands at approximately $1.83 billion and is set to grow at a staggering CAGR of 38.29% until FY2027. This growth is said to further be accelerated by the digital transformation of the country; a process that is aided by the IT boom caused by the pandemic and ensuing global lockdowns.

Can the immersive technologies offered by Metaverse revolutionise India’s education and skilling system?

In a country that suffers from deep-rooted infrastructural issues, a virtual space provides us with a solution that is not only ready to scale but also one that carries huge potential and promise. 

This is best evidenced by the way in which EdTech has taken over traditional schooling during this pandemic. Be it skill training programmes in universities, technical training for specific jobs or teaching abstract concepts in school – small scale experiments that leverage this technology are already being run through the country.

The key to improve skilling in India 

How can we give workplace experiences to those living in rural India and Tier 2-3 towns? Maybe Metaverse has or is the answer. People staying anywhere in India can now get virtual and immersive tours of shop floors without having to travel to factories in big cities. This reduces onboarding costs, and makes a wider pool of talent available to all companies.

The best thing about this solution is that we don’t need to build expensive factories and training centres. We don’t need to pay for people to fly down and travel to select locations. Even workers in less developed towns and villages can easily access the variety and range of training and learning offered by AR and VR without a tedious investment in building heavy infrastructure. 

Empowering workers within the new Gig Economy

In a country like India, this can help the bottom of our workforce upskill themselves and rise above the job rank. Today’s world is increasingly becoming a gig economy. To perform and become a leader of this new world, India needs to move from a labour-intensive economy to a knowledge-based economy. This means focusing on bettering our worker’s ability to create as opposed to just support ancillary functions. How can our education and skilling system adapt to respond to the demands of this new economy? 

By offering workers a customizable range of concepts and skills that they can easily pick up using this technology. Automobile companies can train people from rural India on how to fix a car or make repairs on the engine. Marketing companies can train creators to make reels and create social media content for their clients. Other companies can train them on how to make and run websites for them. As I said, the possibilities are endless. Meta (previously Facebook) recently announced a massive skilling initiative in India for 10 million students and 1 million educators.

The goal, however, is simple: Let us universalize skilling and empower the future workforce by supporting them to pick up important and crucial skills for the future.

(The author is Co Founder of 1 Million for 1 Billion Foundation (1M1B)- UN accredited not for profit organization. Views expressed are personal and do not reflect the official position or policy of the Financial Express Online.)