Mediamates: SKILLS AHEAD: What's New

Roadmap ahead
Kharge stresses on need to harmonise skill development programme initiated under Skill Mission and the NCVT

Union Labour & Employment Minister Mallikarjun Kharge has stressed on the need to harmonise skill development programme initiated under the Skill Mission and the NCVT to meet the specific needs of various sectors of economy. Kharge was chairing the 40th meeting of the National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) in New Delhi in mid-December.

The Council was established in 1956 and since then it has been advising Government in framing the vocational training policies and in maintaining high standards of training in the country.

Kharge said, “Skills Development is an essential input for achieving the objective of decent work by increasing the productivity and sustainability of the enterprises and improving employability of persons. UPA Government is giving due importance to build human resources through appropriate skill development, especially to take advantage of demographic profile of the country.”

He said, “The Directorate General of Employment & Training (DGE&T) has taken many initiatives for expansion of skill development both in qualitative and quantities terms, during XI Plan period. With able guidance of members and support from all stakeholders, we were able to achieve most of these targets. I am happy to inform you that ITIs are growing at an average rate of 10 per cent every year during last five years. At present there are 9,404 ITIs with seating capacity of around 13.21 lakh . In Government sector, there are 2,244 ITIs with a seating capacity of 4.69 lakh and in private sector, there are 7,160 ITCs with a seating capacity of 8.62 lakh.” He shared details of upgradation of 500 ITIs into centres of excellence and of upgradation of 1,396 ITIs under PPP mode. At the same time he also described the skill development initiatives in 34 Districts affected by Left Wing extremism, as well as in the North East.

The Minister emphasised the need to improve affiliation, assessment and testing system of NCVT. He also said it was necessary to start accreditation of ITIs, so that performance is recognised.

On this occasion Kharge also presented two awards in the areas of skill development in the craftsmenship. The award for the best institution went to M/s BOSCH while the award for best state was given to Maharashtra.

The meeting later discussed issues like engagement of Quality Council of India (QCI) for accreditation of Government and private ITIs, granting affiliation from NCVT to Government and private ITIs for limited period of time, approval of dual system of training scheme in Government and private ITI(s), implementation of continuous and comprehensive evaluation scheme, introduction of computer-based instruction material (CBIM) to impart theoretical Instructions; and web-based testing system (WBTS) for evaluation of trainers.