New Delhi : On the occasion of 2nd Foundation Day of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, a day-long national conference of State Ministers on “Skilling with Quality” was organized at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. More than 80% of the States share their best practices to improve the quality of projects delivery in their states. The conference emphasized on the need for strengthening institutional mechanisms for skill development at the State level and bringing in a more robust framework ensuring quality output, outcome and impact on the youth of our country.
The conference explained Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship’s (MSDE) efforts in ensuring alignment to common norms, district level committees, best practices, special projects, disadvantage groups and a robust model for monitoring and validation and emphasized the needs for States to come forward and handhold districts in making all skill initiatives a success at the local level.
MSDE communicated that it has plans to disburse around INR 7000 crore to states to help align them with the centre’s skill development agenda and work in conjunction with them to ensure a robust ecosystem.
Addressing the State Ministers, Shri Rohit Nandan, Secretary MSDE said, “Skills have to maintain a certain baseline standard and we should not get caught in the numbers. Skills cannot be compromised at any cost and States should partner with the Centre to verify and grade ITIs and Training Partners so that quality and standards can be maintained. The Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) will work closely with the local authorities and industries towards job aggregation. Those who perform well will be incentivized while those who do not perform will have to exit. ”
States like Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh participating in the conference lauded the Centre’s endeavour to bring about convergence across regions and also shared their best practices on Quality Assurance for others to follow. States stated that the quality has to be engrained into the system right at the planning level and also ensured that the skilled workforce will be used for infrastructure and other developments within the region. State Minister from Uttar Pradesh also shared how there skilled workforce is being given international exposure by sending them abroad for training courses in skills like perfumery.
The Ministry also emphasized on increasing engagement with apprentices under the “National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme” under which the Government of India will share 25% of prescribed stipend subject to a maximum of Rs. 1500 per month per apprentice with the employers. In addition, Government will also support basic training, which is an essential component of apprenticeship training. It was advised that States may create a State Apprenticeship Cell and encourage engagement of apprentices to the maximum of 10% of total strength of private establishments and State Public Sectors.
