Skill Mission Sarva Kaushal Abhiyaan on the anvil

This will be on the lines of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan

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To enhance skill development in the country, the government will soon initiate a mission to be called Sarva Kaushal Abhiyaan. This will be on the lines of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, a flagship government project that works to promote primary education. Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajiv Pratap Rudy announced this on Saturday.

Rudy also said that the government has formed a working group to work out a transparent policy for state-run Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and to suggest ways to scale up their capacity. “This group will be expected to submit its report within one month positively,” the minister said.  

Members of the working group will include the principal secretaries of four to five states, the MD & CEO of the National Skill Development Corporation and the joint secretary of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. It will be chaired by the secretary of the same ministry. Rudy was speaking at a national workshop of state ministers in the capital on Saturday to discuss the policy framework and roadmap for skill development in the country.

“There is an urgent need to standardise education, and the states have to become partners in skill development to ensure this," said Rudy. "All the states have to educate themselves on national occupational standards and qualification packs so that we can collectively skill large number of people with  speed and standards.” He said that industry needed to decide the type of trained workforce required in the country. "The government will facilitate efforts in this direction. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship will handhold states in creating models of excellence at every step. Sometimes what fourteen years of education cannot provide 14 weeks of vocational education can,” he added.

The National Workshop of State Ministers on Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Policy saw more than 450 participants from central and state government s,including the ministers and principal secretaries, industry, sector skill councils, training providers and other key stakeholders in skill ecosystem. Ministers from Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, HP, Punjab, Orissa, Goa and Maharashtra made presentations on key initiatives in their states and shared inputs on enhancing the centre-state partnership for skill development.