Initiatives to improve quality of Skills for better employment opportunities

Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has launched Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna (PMKVY), the flagship program of the Ministry was launched in 2015 to mobilize youth to take up skill training with the aim of increasing productivity and aligning the training and certification to the needs of the country. Owing to success of PMKVY 1.0 wherein more than 19 lakh students were trained as against the target of 24 lakh, the scheme was re- launched as PMKVY 2.0 (2016-2020) with an aim to train 10 million youth by the year 2020.

Based on the learning from first phase of the scheme, changes were made under PMKVY (2016-2020) to ensure quality and standardization for the benefit of end beneficiaries. The training centres delivering training under PMKVY (2016-2020) have been inspected by third party inspection agencies, courses have been designed by Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) with industry inputs, and curriculum and candidate handbooks have been standardized for all job roles under PMKVY. PMKVY actively also seeks input from industry through SSCs to keep abreast with changes and requirement of employers to be inculcated in the course curriculum. Further, training centres imparting training are regularly monitored leveraging technology enabled tools.Under PMKVY, a total of 49973, 1594183 and 674534 candidates have been trained during 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively.

Directorate General of Training (DGT), Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) is entrusted with the responsibility of long term vocational training in the Country. One of the flagship schemes is ‘Craftsmen Training Scheme’ being implemented through network of 15,042 Industrial Training Institutes  (Govt. 2738 + Private 12,304 ITIs) located all over the country with an objective to provide skilled work force to the industry in 138 trades with duration of 6 months , 1 year and 2 year .

DGT has taken following initiatives to improve quality of skills for better employment opportunities.

1. Dual System of Training- for better industry linkages following the German model.
2. Grading of ITIs & ISO 29990 certification
3. Introduction of two year Advanced Technical Diploma
4. Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE)
5. Introduction of new trades on Internet of Things (IoT), Smart Agriculture, Geo- informatics assistant, Aeronautical Structure & Equipment Fitter, Drone, Solar Technician, Technician Mechatronics etc, under Craftsmen Training Scheme.

This information was given by Union Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha today.