Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Saturday emphasised on making skill development a mission programme to meet present requirement of skilled manpower of growing industry. He was presenting his viewpoint in a meeting of Sub Group of Chief Ministers on Skill Development at NITI Aayog in New Delhi. Parkash Singh Badal Punjab Chief Minister is a convener of this Sub Group.
Highlighting the initiatives taken by the Himachal Government in the field of Skill Development, the Chief Minister said the State has created a State-level Skill Development Society to give policy direction, coordinate and implement the skill activities in the State. “We have decided to constitute a Skill Development Corporation to plan, co-ordinate and implement most of the Skill Development Schemes and the Corporation will also provide an umbrella framework to improve coordination and convergence among all the departments of the State Government,” he added.
Expressing the need to start Skill Development Programme at all levels, Virbhadra Singh said, “With the aim of promoting skills and improving employability of students, vocational education in trades like Automobiles, Retail, Security, Healthcare, Tourism and Agriculture from Classs IX to XII has been started in 200 Government Senior Secondary Schools. He said there was also a need to start Employment and Career Guidance; and Counselling at 10+2 School and College level. “Employment and Career Guidance Centre are being started in all the existing District Employment Exchanges,” he added.