Center pledges Rs 560 crores to State Govt to promote demand-driven, industry linked skill development

New Delhi, Oct 1 (KNN) On behalf of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), Union Minister Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey announced the Center’s commitment of Rs 560 crores to the State Governments to promote demand-driven, industry linked skill development at the ground level.

The announcement was made at the Annual National Conference of State Ministers held here, which also saw the commencement of the ‘Apprenticeship Pakhwada’, a 15-day event aimed at driving widespread awareness of the Apprenticeship.

The event witnessed collaboration with 22 organizations to provide apprenticeship training opportunities to more than 2.5 lakh youth in the country.

Addressing the States on their collaboration on Skill Development, Pandey said, “Skill development is a demand-driven subject and thus it is important that we give more power to the States to ensure quality and market relevant outcome. It is important that we map and strike a balance between the traditional and new age skills, right at the district level and also target a shift from un-organized to the organized market through our Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) program.”

The States should ensure integration of skills right at the school level so that the youth can decide which skills to hone. At the University level, we should promote apprenticeship training as part the regular degree courses, since on-the-job training is the pre-requisite for any job, he further added.

The Minister said that the government, both at the Center and the State level, should work towards a common standardized assessment system.

“We should promote those who are contributing with quality outcome and discourage every sort of corruption”, he added.

The event also saw detailed discussion on Vision 2025 of Skill India and the direction that the Ministry and State Governments should take. 

“It is imperative that the Central and the State Governments work closely with each other to ensure that we meet our Vision 2025”, said Pandey. 

Giving a direction to States, Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, R.K Singh said, “Our focus should be on secondary and tertiary sectors than primary sectors for jobs opportunities now; and on the local demands for goods and services than on global ones. States should consistently undertake environmental scan for market relevant skills. We should ensure our alignment to jobs of the future so that India has a competitive advantage.”

It is also important that our trainers are upgraded consistently to latest curriculum and our infrastructure should be of global standards focusing quality delivery, he added.

The event also listed the recent amendments in Apprenticeship Act with an objective to increase linkage with more companies and industries.

As a crucial support from MSDE, incentives to Third Party Aggregators (TPAs) was also announced to strengthen the bond with several stakeholders and aspiring youth to achieve the set target of engaging 10 lac apprentices during current financial year.

The event also witnessed felicitation of industries with more than 3000 apprentices each and award distribution to winners of All India Competition of Apprenticeships held by Directorate General of Training.

During the Pakhwada period, the ministry will hold a number of workshops and seminars across major centres in the states with the aim of creating wider awareness about the Apprenticeship Training amongst establishments and employers across manufacturing and service sectors.

These will include all stakeholders including SSCs, industry partners, state governments, industry associations, third party aggregators and line ministry in various parts of the country.