With a vision to prepare a sea of skilled manpower, the Government of Jharkhand is operating various skill development schemes through various departments in the State, says Jharkhand’s Minister for School & Literacy Department, Higher and Technical Education and Skill Development Dr Neera Yadav in conversation with Gopi Krishna Arora of Elets News Network (ENN).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Higher education should trigger the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship, ensuring students’ employability. What role does your department play in skilling and providing jobs to the youth under Jharkhand Skill Mission?
The outline of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation building programme is proposed to be a two-step approach. First, it should be boosting the ease of doing business for the existing enterprises in the State. Second, it should provide requisite training and skill base for generating new entrepreneurs who can absorb the skilled youth as well
as contribute to the economy of the state by boosting the secondary and tertiary sector. The proposed measures to promote/improve entrepreneurship and innovation includes creating pathways for curriculum changes in schools and colleges, connecting entrepreneurs to peers, mentors, incubators which can support aspirant entrepreneurs in sector identification, enterprise planning, credit linkages, market linkages, operational support etc.
How is the State Government promoting school, higher and technical education in Jharkhand and linking it with skill development mission? What are the policies in place and new initiatives undertaken in this regard?
The Jharkhand Skill Development Mission Society has been incorporated under the Societies Act under Department of Higher, Technical Education and Skill Development to promote quality skill development initiative in the State and develop a healthy and sustainable skill ecosystem. More than 30,000 youths have been trained and placed till now through various Skill Development training programmes. The major skilling programmes are:
- SJKVY – Saksham Jharkhand Kaushal Vikas Yojana
- DDU-KK – Deen Dayal Upadhyay Kaushal Kendra
- EXCEL – Employability Excellence with College Education and Learning
- COE – Centre of Excellence
Department of Higher, Technical Education and Skill Development has partnered with Siemens in setting up technical skilling centres “Centre of Excellence” at BIT Sindri and “Technical Skill Development Institutes” in five Government polytechnics. An ambitious programme named EXCEL (Employability Excellence with College Education; Learning) has also been launched in colleges making youth technically sound and industry ready leading to successful employment.
Jharkhand is emerging as the Skill Destination of India. The Government of India is also emphasing on Skill India Mission, how is the State implementing this mission and making youth skilled?
The Government of Jharkhand has an ambitious target of skilling 20 lakh youths in next five years which includes 12
lakh by the Department of Higher, Technical Education and Skill Development and remaining 8 lakhs by other departments. The Mission is leveraging upon its various Skill Development programs like SJKvY (Saksham Jharkhand Kaushal vikas Yojana), DDU-KK (Deen Dayal Upadhyay Kaushal Kendra), EXCEL (Employability Excellencewith College Education Learning) and CoE (Centre of Excellence) to achieve its target. The Mission is aggressively working towards establishing large size Skill Development Centres with high training capacity under DDU-KK programme also known as Mega Skill Centres covering all 24 districts.
How is the State government ensuring skill training in Jharkhand serves global standards as well? Tell us about the recent initiatives of the department.
Chief Minister of Jharkhand Raghubar Das has visited the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), Singapore, and signed a MoU there to develop a skill development centre in the State. The centre will provide class training facilities to create better employment opportunities in the State. our various schemes are helping students to get the jobs in foreign countries like United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Tell us about the special budget allocated for skill development mission in the State and how government is planning to increase this in next year?
The government has established Jharkhand Skill Development Mission Society and Mega Skill Training Centres along with increase in budget for skill training of the youth. The current budget allocated for Skill Development in the State is Rs 700 crore which is expected to be increased to Rs 1,000 crore next year. To boost the skill training in the State, the government has tried to remove all the financial and administrative hurdles.
What message you would like to give to the youth of Jharkhand and for the Skill Summit 2018?
The message for the Jharkhand youth under this Skill Summit event is “Jharkhand Government is committed towards skilling youths and making them self-reliant and employable which would enable them earn a respectful living”.
