Country's first community skill park to open in Kerala

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will inaugurate Kaushal Kendra, a state-of-the-art skill development centre, here on Saturday, a Kerala minister said on Friday.

Located around 70 km from Thiruvananthapuram, it has even attracted the attention of the central government which has shown interest in replicating the centre throughout the country.

Built at a cost of Rs.1.5 crore, the project was implemented through the state's nodal skill development agency - Kerala Academy for Skills Excellence (KASE).

"This is the first such centre in the country instituted specifically to meet the shortcomings of our educated youths and boost their employability at very nominal costs," Kerala Labour Minister Shibu Baby John told the media on Friday.

The skill development centre will work on four fronts.

The Assessment and Career Guidance Cell will help the rural youths to realise their career aptitude through the best global assessment tools and provides guidelines to choose the course best suited for them, taking their socio-economic and educational backgrounds into consideration .

A high-end digital library, tied up with the World e-Library, will ensure access to digitised, authenticated content from across the world.

In association with the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, the centre's language lab will help the youths obtain proficiency in English and other foreign languages.

Another state-of-the-art facility is a multi-skill room with video conference facilities that acts as a skill training medium and virtual classroom, depending on industrial needs.

"There will be round-the-year training in various fields with the support of training and industrial partners, with a view to placements," said John, in whose constituency, this new facility has been set up.