Emphasising the need for strengthening institutional mechanisms for skill development at the State level and bringing in a more robust framework, Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Anand Kumar Hegde, Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, launched an array of initiatives at a day-long State Ministers’ Conference held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The workshop saw a participation from more than 90% of the States, discussing the skills agenda.
The conference witnessed the launch of new courses for ITIs as an endeavour to promote emerging skill areas like Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Robotic Process Automation, Internet of Things, Robotics, Big Data Analytics, 3D Printing, etc. which would be in high demand globally in coming days.
Keeping this in mind an MoU was been signed today between DGT & National Association of Software Services Companies (NASSCOM ) for enabling Skill Development and continuous learning for ITI trainees & trainers.
Recognising the concurrent nature of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), the conference marked the launch of new Affiliation Norms 2018 restoring the primacy of States in the affiliation process.
To ensure transparency in the affiliation process, a portal has also been designed and was launched at the event. The portal has a three-stage process which simplifies the overall affiliation process.
The MSDE also announced a self-grading for ITIs to provide star rating to ensure quality assessment.
Addressing the State representatives, Pradhan said: “Vocational training is a concurrent subject and it is imperative that Centre and States work closely to ensure a paradigm shift in addressing the issues relevant to skill development and identify the gaps in skill development, so as to achieve the objectives in terms of quantity, quality, outreach, and mobility while building this largest human resource exercise that we have undertaken.”