Tamil Nadu should create Rs 700cr annual skill development fund: CII study

The Government of Tamil Nadu should create a skill development fund to the tune of Rs 600 crore to Rs 700 crore every year for building additional educational infrastructure and creating a skilled workforce as the state has the potential to create 13-15 million new jobs by 2015, says a study conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

"Tamil Nadu will have 13 to 15 million new (incremental) jobs (including about 4 million skilled and highly skilled professionals, and 9 to 11 million unskilled manpower) to offer by 2015, primarily from automotive, IT & ITES, textiles, leather, light engineering, construction, and financial services sectors," the State Level Skill Mapping Study, conducted by CII points out.

The study is about the manpower requirements of Tamil Nadu's high-growth industries by 2015 and the skills currently available in the state.

It estimates that an additional educational infrastructure, capable of training 80,000 students a year, need to be built in Tamil Nadu with public private partnership over the next 10 years to cater to the growing needs of manufacturing and service sectors of the state. Such infrastructure should include engineering, arts, science and commerce colleges as well as polytechnics and ITIs.

The study recommends an SDF (Skill Development Fund) to the tune of Rs 600 crore to Rs 700 crore every year in order to ensure adequate resource availability for the promotion of various educational initiatives.

The study urges the government to conceptualise and roll out a Grassroot Level Skill Development Initiative (GSDI), a large-scale skill-development initiative, covering around 0.8 million unskilled people annually.

Government should conceptualise the formulation of curriculum for GLSDI by 2007, conduct trial runs in select districts by 2008 and roll-out the programme by 2009.

The CII study suggests that the government, along with industry and academic institutions, can formulate and implement a Cluster Based Skill Development Initiative (CSDI) which would aim at developing the skills of manpower employed in a particular cluster, by involving the educational institutions and industries belonging to that cluster.

Each CSDI initiative should involve a mix of engineering colleges, diploma institutes, ITIs, arts and science colleges, and the participating industries in each cluster.

The study also recommends the government to roll out CSDI in the key industrial areas of Tamil Nadu, such as Chennai and Coimbatore, by 2008 and subsequently introduce the model in other parts of the state on a fast track basis.

"The government should take initiatives in establishing Centres of Excellence & Innovation (CEIs) for each key sector to impart the leading-edge skills required for the sector concerned to grow and remain competitive", the study says.

"Six to seven CEIs covering the high-growth industrial sectors should be established in key industrial areas, such as Chennai (automotives, and IT & ITES), Coimbatore (textile and light engineering) and Vellore (leather). These CEIs may be established gradually within the next two to three years," it recommends.

"Tamil Nadu has a high literacy rate (75 per cent against the national average of 63 per cent, according to Census 2001) and an established formal (higher) education infrastructure consisting of 503 arts, science and commerce colleges, 209 polytechnics, 239 engineering colleges, and over 600 ITIs which have the potential to create around 400,000 skilled manpower annually. But around 40 per cent of these engineering graduates and diploma holders remain unemployed even after two years of passing out. The level of unemployment is considerably higher (70 per cent) among arts and science graduates," the study points out.