The first fortnight of December seems to have ended on a happening note with a flurry of activity in the skill development and vocational training in India. There were MOUs, new initiatives and several interesting snippets from different states and industry sectors. Let’s proceed with this edition of fortnightly news in skill development and vocational training in India. 
The need to get skilled and promote vocational education is now strongly backed by research. According to a report from City and Guilds, only 2.3% have undergone skills training and a startling 97.7% have stayed away.
The report also says that the biggest bottlenzeck for reaping the huge potential of our demographic dividend it our bias against vocational education, the lack of coherent delivery mechanisms at state level and a complex skills system. At the international level, UK has expressed interest in supporting MSDE to create 8 new Centres for Excellence over the next few years.
Skill development news from the states
- In Arunachal Pradesh, Tata Motors has come forward with a collaborated Automobile Workshop and Mechanic trade under ITI as a part of Skill development training to unemployed youths, while in Sikkim, the government is planning skills training for unemployed youths.
- Skill Development Mission – Kashmir will see more than 50 skills being imparted across various economic activities with the help of 25 Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETI). This will cover heritage industry skills, traditional trades, modern trades and agriculture-based skill enterprise. J&K Wakf Board to release Rs 2 crore for setting up three nursing colleges
- In Puducherry government will provide training for 10,000 youths with an outlay of Rs 15.31 crore for activities of the Labour Department in the 2015- 2016. At present there are 14 Government Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) where 23 regular skill development short term courses are being offered.
New initiatives in skill development and vocational training
- Nasscom Foundation, Aricent launch CSR initiative will train 2,500 engineering undergraduates across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Delhi-NCR to upgrade their employability.
- Globsyn Skills launches SkillsXchange, India’s first portal connecting Skills and Jobs.
- HSBC India Launches HSBC Skills for Life Programme; this will skill over 75,000 young people and women. HSBC has partnered with Swades Foundation for rolling out the first vertical of the programme.
- Functional Vocational Training and Research Society (FVTRS) launched Skill Net Karnataka for the Kaktri Gram Panchayat , Belagavi
- The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) today opened a vocational institute – for unemployed youths at Badarpur.
- Centre launches mobile academy to upgrade ASHA’s skill in Rajasthan: to meet shortage of skilled medical staff at the ground level. This offers a course via voice messaging for upgrading the medical and health skills of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA)…58000 ASHAs would get benefit of upgrading their medical and health skills
- ICRA launches skill development programme in rural Bengal: Under this initiative, 120 students in the age group of 18 to 25 years from four centres of Anudip in West Bengal will undergo skills development training.
- KTI partners GTTI to spur vocational training nationwide by running various skill development programs.
- HCL TalentCare will focus on creating development solutions that offer a career launch pad for students and a ready pool of employable talent for enterprises in the IT, banking, insurance and healthcare sectors
MOUs
- Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories signs MOU with Life Sciences Sector Skill Development (LSSSDC) and the Vishnu Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (VIPER). This will address the shortage of skilled and certified manpower in the industry and strengthen the skilled labour pool and create standards for certification and accreditation in line with the requirements of the life sciences sector.
- MoU Signed for Skill Development in Manufacturing Sector : The purpose of the MoU is to create centres of excellence for different manufacturing skills and a multi-location national institute of manufacturing technologies for training education and research by utilizing/upgrading the existing training facilities.
- Department of Heavy Industry and MSDE sign an MoU for Capital Goods and Automotive Sector for large scale capacity building by providing infrastructure and facilities, improving training content, curriculum and methodology and use of latest technologies.
News from industry sectors
- Handicrafts Sector Skill Council (HSSC) has been mandated to promote skilling in the handicraft segment. The key objective of the HSSC is to create a robust and vibrant eco-system for skill development in the handicraft and carpet sectors including for craft persons and workers, across the country.
- Steel welding sector faces acute labour shortage: Closely linked with steel consumption, the welding industry currently employs around 2.2 million people in both skilled and semi-skilled category.
- Update on Sector Skill Councils (SSCs): Altogether 39 SSCs have been formed which are industry led bodies and responsible for ascertaining needs of the respective sector and finalizing the standards for skilling in consultation with the industry. Out of 39 approved SSCs, 30 are operational.
- IT employees need to upgrade their skills to stay relevant. Although 80% of the industry’s business continues to come from older or legacy technologies, experts say this share is set to shrink and workers need to upgrade their skills to stay relevant.
- Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy pitches for use of defence offsets for skilling infrastructure. He made a strong plea that defence offsets, if allowed to be used for skill development purposes, will help enhance country’s defence manufacturing capabilities.
PMKVY
- A total of 4.12 lakh people have been trained and certified in just over four months under the National Skill Development Mission (PMKVY) . Out of total of 5, 25,536 people enrolled under the scheme launched on July 2015 , 4,12,854 have received their certificates till November 2015.
- Special Camps for Skill Development: PMKVY has a feature of Kaushal Vikas Sivir which is organised by respective PMKVY affiliated training partners across the Country. So far, 5.17 lakh candidates have been enrolled under the scheme for 328 job roles developed by 28 Sector Skill Councils (SSCs).
Compiled and edited by Team@NSN
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