The state of Kerala has achieved 100% literacy rate as it gives more importance to the professional courses rather than job oriented courses. Kerala has been a state with rich human resource even though it’s people need to develop skills as per modern time needs as it is not easy to find skilled labour.
There is a huge difference now in what youngsters want to achieve and where there are openings. The number of youngsters interested in traditional jobs is very less. On the other hand, youngsters are interested in IT, banking, Finance, Engineering and so on. In the state, the number of jobs available in the 2012-22 period would be short by 2.7 lakhs. While demand would increase in specialized-skilled jobs by 34 per cent, semi-skilled categories would also see a drop in demand of 38 per cent. The numbers are of-course amenable to change because the nature of jobs changes every five years. The fact that many people leave to neighboring states also increases demand for skill. At the same time however, semi-skilled workers get a chance to develop their skills and operate as skilled technicians.
Just as Kerala prepared itself for the literacy campaign, it is time that the state also started a similar campaign for skill development. Skill development needs to happen during education and new areas of interest that applies to the younger generation need to be identified. The ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship(MSDE) has a clear idea of programmes needed to be implemented in Kerala. NSDC has 178 centres where more than 49000 students have been trained out of which one third has also gained employment. The Kaushal Vikas Yojana has already trained 9441 in partner with NSQF. ITIs have also made great efforts to modernize the ITIs, start multi-skill training centres and start Model Skill Centres. More people are being encouraged to impart training for skill development and make trainees competent at International levels. Along-with providing skill training, centre, state and industrial houses are to collaborate to give better chances of employment to skilled people.
Note: News shared for public awareness with reference to the information available at leading e-news portals.
