Defence Ministry exchanges MoU on skill development with SDN Trust

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was exchanged on Friday between the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Skill Development Network (SDN) Trust for collaboration on technical and program management support for the skill development programmes of the MoD.

The SDN Trust is an initiative of Wadhwani Foundation and is engaged in skills development related activities and aims to drive economic growth in India through large-scale initiatives in job creation and skill development.

The MoU was exchanged between the Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Dr. Romesh Wadhwani, Chairman of the Wadhwani Foundation.

Speaking on the occasion the Defence Minister said "skill development is an important aspect of the overall policy of the Government of India".

Approximately 60,000 service personnel retire or are released every year at a comparatively young age. Directorate General Resettlement (DGR) assists service personnel (due for retirement/release in one to two years) and Ex- Servicemen (ESM) to acquire additional skills and facilitate their resettlement through a financially viable career serving the civil society.

SDN Trust will provide the programme management support to MOD in its Skill Development initiatives like successful roll out of National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) based skill training to ESM, supporting NSQF compliant training programmes through Ordinance Factory Boards (OFBs), Defence Public Sector Units (DPSUs) and introduction of vocational education in schools run by defence forces.

This collaboration aims to train and provide gainful employment to approximately 3, 00,000 ESM and their families, school students and youth in five years starting from Financial Year 2015-16.

The SDN commits to spend on Program Management activities including the Teacher training, e-content, training of ESM, training of other officials, technology platform etc. for leveraging the MoD funding towards skill and entrepreneurship development initiatives and schemes. SDN will provide over 1000 hours of online and e-learning modules.

The MoU shall remain in force for a period of five years.