For Pratibha Kalita, a 45-year-old artisan from a small village in Assam, weaving was integral to life, but only as a household skill and a means to clothe her family. With hands-on training – from refining her techniques and expanding her product range to learning brand building and business management, she transformed this generational craft into a thriving enterprise.

Today, Pratibha is a successful entrepreneur who, having secured her family’s future, creates livelihood opportunities for other women while continuing to remain a proud custodian of her heritage. Her journey is a testament to how skilling is more than just a pipeline to employment – at its best, it is also a vehicle to unlock agency, dignity, and freedom. As the late APJ Abdul Kalam so powerfully put it, “Real education enhances the dignity of a human being and increases his or her self-respect.”

Skilling in India is often viewed through a narrow, purely economic lens – a vocational training course, a certificate, a job placement. Traditional approaches to skilling may ask, “How many youth did we train? How many jobs did we create?” While important, these risk overlooking the soul of the........

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