Dr. A. Sakthivel recently joined as Chairman of the Apparel, Made-ups, and Home Furnishings Sector Skill Council (AMHSSC) in January 2023. Skill Reporter Team extended their wishes for his joining and interacted with him. The Chairman shared his views and talked about the rising need of skilled workforce.
Sir, it would be great if you can share a brief of your professional journey so far.
I have been associated with the Apparel sector for over three and a half decades. I am currently President of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO), an apex body of all export promotion bodies in the Country, and Honorary Chairman of the Tirupur Exporters’ Association (TEA), Former Chairman and Southern Region In charge of the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC). I was the first Chairman of the Apparel, Made-Ups & Home Furnishing Council (AMHSSC). I have also been the Chairman of the India Knit Fair Association (IKFA) for the last 24 years and Chairman of the Tamil Nadu Branch Indo-American Chamber of Commerce.
With a rise in residential and commercial construction, Apparel and Made-up sectors are seeing a surge in demand for interior professionals. What are your thoughts to manage the rising need for skilled professionals?
AMHSSC has, till now focused more on the shop floor level courses, like Sewing Machine Operators, Sewing Machine Operators-Knots, Self-Employed Tailors, etc. However, off late felt the need to give more emphasis on higher level Job roles, as well so that middle management of the Apparel industry gets sufficiently skilled. At the moment, middle management in the Apparel industry is weak and needs either skilled managerial and supervisory professionals or needs upskilling of the existing supervisors and managers.
Keeping this in mind, we have designed a Bachelor of Vocational Studies (B.Voc) course and would suitably run into various institutions with the help of Universities. This has been encouraged by UGC also in one of its notifications.
Sir, the Ministry of Education has come up with NEP 2020 where skill development is given a good space in education. How do you think AMHSSC can play a role in skilling at the do school level?
The subject of Skilling has always taken a back seat in Schools and with Urban students. Those who are not able to continue in the Education stream, normally get attracted to the skilling stream. However, the NEP envisages starting skilling from class 6th itself.
AMHSSC would endeavor to spread enough information amongst the students in Schools itself to enable the students to understand the value of skills, especially Self-employment. Social Media is full of small films these days which show the value of Self-employment, especially when it’s shown that even a guy selling Fritters (Pakodas) earns ten times higher than educated IT and Telecom professionals. We wish to inculcate similar information amongst the students that instead of running after Jobs, they would be much better placed if they start their businesses, like opening a Boutique or a Tailoring Shop. By doing so, they can earn much higher than joining a factory, even as supervisors or Managers.
Sir, how do you think the industry should be better engaged to support skill development initiatives?
In fact, the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4 (PMKVY 4) already envisages working closely with the industry. The targets of the scheme are being distributed to Industries or Trade Associations and it would be incumbent upon the sector skill councils to get the training done by either Industries or Trade Associations so that post-training the candidates are employed in those industries themselves. This way training programs can be organized by SSCs in those areas where there is more demand for manpower near the Apparel clusters.
Skill development has acute relevance in the life of students, to make a career most easily in the least time. What’s your message to youth, to explore the Apparel and MadeUps sector as a career path?
As mentioned in one of the preceding paras, these days students think that getting a job is always a prestigious thing, as compared to starting their shop. They tend to forget that an Alteration Tailor in any busy market, can earn anywhere between Rs 5000 to 6000 per day (Rs 1.5 to 1.6 lac a month), whereas, a fresher in a factory can earn a maximum of Rs 20000-25000 per month. The only issue is that we need to start respecting Skillsets, rather than running after false pride of working in a factory.
My message to the youngsters is that gone are the days of rushing after Jobs. Start your shops and scale it up and make a larger Boutique later on. You will have much higher revenues and will get immense satisfaction.
