Everonn arm to set up 270 centres

Everonn Skill Development Ltd (ESDL), a joint venture between National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and Chennai-based Everonn Education, is planning to invest Rs 700 crore in setting up skill development centres across the country.

NSDC is a public private partnership created by the Union government to support vocational training initiatives, and has made an equity investment in ESDL.

Everonn Education managing director P Kishore said the NSDC had committed around Rs 115 crore, which includes equity portion of Rs 15 crore and a loan of Rs 100 crore. NSDC will have 27 per cent in ESDL, while Everonn will hold 74 per cent.

Over the next three years, ESDL would set up centres at 270 locations, with a capacity to train 50,400 master trainers across 12 locations. The first centre was inaugurated by S Ramadorai, advisor to the Prime Minister in the National Skill Development Council.

Kishore added that over the next 10 years, these centres would train 15 million people in nine key sectors including retail, construction, healthcare, hospitality, IT/ITeS, gaming and animation.

On the revenue model, Kishore said the company would be looking at revenue through four models, including from the government, industry and student loans. “On an average, fees work to around Rs 9,800 per student,” he said.

Vocational training in schools
The government is planning to add vocational training as part of the curriculum in the cchools, according to S Ramadorai, advisor to the Prime Minister in the National Skill Development Council.

He said the draft was being readied to introduce the curriculum in the 8th and 9th grades. “Pilot is going on in Haryana,” said Ramadorai.

Earlier, he said that around 500 million people need to be skilled by 2022 in India. The critical components to focus include scale, implementation, monitoring, technology and accountability.