Govt to set up board for skill assessment, certification

The government will bring a law to set up National Board for Skills Assessment and Certification (NBSAC) to ensure quality skill training.
Minister of State for Skill Development Rajiv Pratap Rudy said currently there is no common board for assessment and certification purposes.
"We are creating one act for NBSAC. This will be a big step forward as there would be a common assessment and certification board," he said while briefing media about the performance of his ministry.
He said a legislation is being prepared and "I am sure that we will be able to take this in the July session of Parliament".

The minister said questions are being raised on both the assessment and assessors as "assessment is a grey area".
"We are going between National Council of Vocational Training (NCVT) and National Skill Qualification Framework. We are going to establish the board," he added.

The board will combine industry-led SSC certification processes and government-authorised NCVT certification and will act as a one stop shop for examinations, assessments and awarding national-level certificates in compliance with NSQF, for skill development courses in the country.
Rudy also informed that an agreement has been reached with the HRD Ministry that anyone who has completed a two-year ITI course will get 10th pass certificate if the student has already studied till eight standard. Similarly, if a student has passed 10th standard and has ITI, he/she would get 12th pass certificate.

The candidates, however, will have to clear two papers to get these certificates.
"It is a historic decision. 18 lakh students are passing out from ITIs and in the last 66 years, crores of students have passed out. There was no validity of the ITI certificate for further studies.
"Now through the National Institute of Open Schooling, students who have passed 10th and have two-year ITI certificate, we would give them 12th equivalent certificate and it will have a pan India validity," he said.
Further, he said more than one crore youth have been trained under the Skill India Mission in 2015-16 which is 36.8 per cent higher than the previous year.

The ministry is also working towards the establishment of one model skill centre in each district which would be operational in more than 500 districts by March 2017.
Under Skill India Mission, the government's target is to
impart skills to 40 crore youth by 2022.
Rudy said in the last two years, the number of ITIs has increased from 10,750 to over 13,105 and these will be further scale up to 18,000 by September this year.
The minister said still there are about 2,500 blocks in the country where there are no facilities of technical education in private and public sector.

"Out of this, at about 1,500 places, through PPP model, we are planning to set up ITIs and soon we will approach the Union Cabinet for its consideration," he said adding a framework is under preparation for monitoring and evaluation of skill development.
For overseas employment, he said they are formulating an ecosystem with the help of Ministry of External Affairs so that people going abroad for jobs do not face any problem.
People going abroad for jobs like plumbing and fitters face problems as there is no formal arrangement in the country for their training, and they face problems due to that, he added.

"We have decided that in the first phase, we would provide training for overseas employment at 11 places. We would pay for that and would also help them in their passports and visas besides providing linkages with embassies and foreign employers. We are preparing that ecosystem," he added.
When asked about employment creation in the country, Rudy said his ministry's job is to provide skill training and "we create employable workforce".
"We think that in every 100 trained person, 35 will be for job and another 35 for self employment. 100 per cent would not happen because somebody may take up something else," he added.

As per the data, 12 lakh students have got jobs out of 18 lakh who have passed out from ITIs. In Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDUGKY), 3.5 lakh students have got jobs and about 6 lakh youth have been employed through programmes like Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), he said.
"As per our data, about 25 lakh youth have got jobs. The figure could be higher," he said.