{"id":15475,"date":"2026-01-31T04:57:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T04:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/?p=15475"},"modified":"2026-02-03T05:39:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T05:39:21","slug":"upskilling-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/upskilling-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"The Work That Lasts (2025): Smile’s Upskilling Programme"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

India\u2019s labour market does not resemble the diagrams often used to describe it. It is not neatly divided into formal and informal sectors, nor does it progress along predictable ladders from training to employment. Instead, it is mobile, fragmented and deeply shaped by proximity\u2014to worksites, markets and opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 90 percent of India\u2019s workforce operates in informal settings<\/a>. These workers build homes, paint walls, lay tiles, wire buildings and keep cities functional. But they remain largely invisible in policy execution even if they are visualized in its imagination\u2014uncredentialed, uninsured and excluded from conventional upskilling systems that assume stable jobs, fixed locations and the ability to step away from daily wages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question facing India today is whether upskilling systems are designed for the workforce that actually exists<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last three years, Smile Foundation\u2019s iTrain on Wheels<\/em> initiative has offered a practical answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The core challenge: Upskilling without exclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Most upskilling programmes are built on assumptions that informal workers cannot meet. They require travel to centralised centres, time away from work, documentation and familiarity with institutional processes. For a daily-wage worker, these requirements are not inconveniences; they are barriers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, upskilling has often failed precisely where it is needed most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

iTrain on Wheels<\/em> reverses this logic. Instead of asking workers to enter the system, it takes the system to where workers already are. Training is delivered through mobile units, free of cost, near worksites and communities. This single design choice\u2014mobility over centralisation<\/strong>\u2014is the programme\u2019s most important innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It recognises a simple truth: for informal workers, time is income and access determines participation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scale that reflects reality, not dilution<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since its inception, iTrain on Wheels<\/em> <\/a>has trained 2.98 lakh household paint applicators across 443 districts in 25 states and 3 Union Territories, including 51 Aspirational Districts. In 2024\u201325 alone, 135,493 workers were trained through 5,924 training sessions, with the programme growing at a 20 percent annual rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These numbers matter not because they are large, but because they are coherent. Scale has been achieved without thinning the intervention. Training quality, curriculum consistency and on-ground delivery have been maintained even as geographic coverage expanded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is rare in informal labour skilling, where rapid expansion often weakens outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From skills to incomes: Measuring what matters<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Upskilling programmes frequently struggle to demonstrate post-training impact. Certificates are issued, attendance is recorded, but income outcomes remain unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

iTrain on Wheels<\/em> is an exception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A third-party evaluation conducted for the programme reports that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n