Engg colleges to impart skill training to 10 lakh in 3 yrs

The faculty of engineering colleges will provide training to unemployed youth, including school dropouts, as the government kicks off an ambitious plan that aims at imparting skills to over 10 lakh people to make them employable in the next three years.
The scheme- 'PMKVY by Technical Institutions', comes under the larger umbrella of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, officials in the HRD ministry told PTI.
A key aspect of the programme is that there is no age bar for candidates who will not only be trained but also provided placement assistance and counselling.
Beginning from the academic year 2016-17, the scheme aims to rope in 2,500 colleges initially to provide skills training to 100 people each.

The number of colleges would be raised to 3,000 in the next academic year and to 5,000 in 2018-19. At least 10,12,500 youth should acquire the skills and training which will help them gain employment, officials said.
The technical institutions have to utilize their infrastructure for offering various kinds of courses during the off-college hours so that the unemployed youth enrolled shall acquire adequate skills for certification under the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) and find placement or self employment, an official said.

Officials said under this initiative, funds would be released covering the cost of teaching learning activities directly to the institutions by the Centre.

The scheme envisages colleges and polytechnics which come under the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to be utilised for its implementation.
The AICTE has come up with the guidelines for the scheme and many institutions have applied for it. A national-level committee headed by Secretary Higher Education V S Oberoi in the HRD ministry will supervise the implementation of the scheme. In addition, there will be state committees.
The infrastructure and lab facilities of the existing institutions will be utilised for implementation of the scheme. The institutions can take the help of either their own faculty for the programme or call those from outside.

The AICTE will provide grants under set terms to institutions which participate in the programme, officials said.
According to the guidelines, admission may be done round the year, depending on the duration of the programmes, to facilitate a steady stream of learners joining the college and moving out as trained workforce.
On successful completion of training for 250 hours, the certificate for skilling component would be awarded by the Board of Technical Education or Technical University of the respective state where the institute is located.