SKILL DEVELOPMENT IN TAMIL NADU

[Mr. M. GOVINDARAJAN]

Prime Minister’s emphasis on skill development in India

The Honorable Prime Minister of India said that today, the world and India need a skilled workforce. If we have to promote the development of our country then our mission has to be `skill development’ and `Skilled India’. Millions and millions of Indian youth should acquire the skills which could contribute towards making India a modern country. I also want to create a pool of young people who are able to create jobs and the ones who are not capable of creating jobs and do not have the opportunities, they must be in a position to face their counterparts in any corner of the world while keeping their heads high by virtue of their hard work and their dexterity of hands and win the hearts of people around the world through their skills. We want to go for the capacity building of such young people. My brothers and sisters, having taken a resolve to enhance the skill development at a highly rapid pace, I want to accomplish this.

Skill India

The success of a nation always depends on the success of its youth. Skill India is an initiative of the Government of India which has been launched to empower the youth of the country with skill sets which make them more employable and more productive in their work environment.  It is chaired by the Honorable Prime Minister of India.  India is a country today with 65% of its youth in the working age group. It considers that if ever there is a way to reap this demographic advantage, it has to be through skill development of the youth so that they add not only to their personal growth, but to the country’s economic growth as well.  This scheme courses across 40 sectors in the country which are aligned to the standards recognized by both, the industry and the government under the National Skill Qualification Framework. Skill India is actively engaging with countries across the world to promote cross geographical exposure and opportunities in the international market

 A Ministry for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has been formed to focus on enhancing employability of the youth through skill development.  The following schemes are framed by the Ministry-

• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) – for the benefit of 10 million youth between the years 2016 – 2020;
• Skill Acquisitions and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP);
• UDAAN -
• Standard Training Assessment And Reward (STAR) Scheme – to implement the mandate of the National Skill Development Mission.
• Polytechnic Scheme – it is a submission on Polytechnics under the co-ordinate for skill development 2015-16.
• School Education – In this NSCD and SSC (Sector Skill Councils) have been nominated for this purpose. Sector Skill Councils support the States in Identification of Trades/ Occupations, Accrediting curriculum with PSSCIVE, Recommendation for Appointment of Vocational (Industry) Coordinator, Quality Control of Training, Training of Trainers, Student Assessment and Certification and Industry Interface. NSDC funded Training Partners take the responsibility of entire Training Delivery including deploying and managing faculty, setting up of labs, organizing Guest Lectures/Industry Visits.
• Higher Education - In order to bridge the industry academia gap – NSDC has developed a unique model to integrate skill based trainings into the academic cycle of the Universities. These are based on National Occupational Standards set by industry through sector skill councils. The job roles offered are designed to be progressive in nature – from Level 5 – level 7 on National Skills Qualification framework.

Innovations

The National Skill Development Agency, invites innovative ideas, concepts and practices on skill development. A committee has been set up to review all such innovations and to facilitate their application on a wider scale. All the innovators who wish to bring their ideas and practices may send their proposals and presentation to the National Skill Development Agency via email to [email protected]. Shortlisted proposals will be invited to make presentation before the Committee which will meet every month on the third Wednesday of the month at 11 am in the NSDA office, commencing from 17th Dec 2014. Selected innovative practices will be facilitated and propagated for wider application.

Skill Development in Tamil Nadu

On line with the objective of the Government of India, the Tamil Nadu State Government is also playing a vital role in the skill development.  A State Level Mission for Skill Development has been set up in Tamil Nadu on 25.9.2009.  Tamil Nadu Skill Development Mission registered as a Society in 2010.  It was fully converted into ‘The Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation’ on 05.06.2013 under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956, as a nonprofit company, under the Labor and Employment Department.  This corporation has been declared as the State Nodal Agency for skill development by the Government and also Special Purpose Vehicle.  The corporation is administered by a Board of Directors with representation from Industrial associations.  Annual budget allocation of the Corporation is ₹ 150 Crores.

• The objective of the Corporation is to increase skilled manpower in Tamil Nadu so as to fulfill skill needs of industries there by attracting large investments to Tamil Nadu.
• The vision of the Corporation is ‘Striving for Progress and Prosperity of the human resource through Skill.’
• The mission of the Corporation is ‘Imparting employable skills for harnessing the power of youth towards nation building.’

The Corporation is now working in the following address at Chennai-

TAMIL NADU SKILL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

Integrated Employment Offices Campus (1st Floor )

Thiru. Vi .Ka Industrial Estate,

Guindy, Chennai-600 032,

Tel: 044 – 22500107

Email: [email protected],[email protected]

Website:https://www.tnskill.tn.gov.in

Role of corporation

Over the years the Corporation has associated with prominent public and private institutions for imparting short term skill development programme which will enhance the employability prospects leading to gainful employment.  The corporation is inviting Expression of Interest from well established training institutes for organizing skill development training programmes and placement in various courses as per National Skill Qualification Frame Work (NSQF), National Occupational Standards (NOS) and Qualification Packs (QP) in different Sector / Trades / Course / Levels to youth aged between 18 to 45 years in the state of Tamil Nadu.

The Corporation required the training centers to fulfill the following conditions-

• The Training agency should have tie up with industry in the form of MoU for placements.
• Have qualified faculty members / instructor / Placement officer in relevant fields on its rolls with adequate teaching experience.
• Should have training set up with infrastructure facilities.
• The training agency should accept third party certification for testing proficiency of trained candidates. The certifying agency will be an approved assessing body.
• Should not have been black listed by any State Government / Central Government or by any other statutory body.
• Be capable to submit the data of the trainees to TNSDC with unique ID details to avoid duplication. The agency should also furnish placement details of each of the candidates with the salary component.
• Weightage shall be given to the agencies having more number of industry tie-up for placements, Practice labs of desired standards, ready to use infrastructure facility, well qualified and experienced faculty.

The Corporation emphasizes the following to such training centers-

• Rural unemployed youth / Women should be given preference during the training programmes.
• The programmes should be industry oriented and the curriculum should include a combination of technical skills necessary for developing livelihood earning capabilities for the candidates.
• The Training delivery (medium of instruction) and training manual should be using a combination of English and Tamil.
• 20% of the Total Training cost will be paid only when 70% of placement is achieved at the end of Training.
• The capacity of training minimum number of candidates and batch size per centre under the course wise may be specified. The batch size should normally between 20 to 40.

Training details

The training is given to the youth in the various sectors, traders in each District.   The website www.tnskill.tn.gov.in gives the list of trainers in each sector and in each trade in each District.  The website further provides the duration of the course, the name of the training provider and address, the contract person and mobile number of the trainer.  Those who want to apply for the training are to register and apply through online on selecting the particular sector or trader.  The application is in English and Tamil.  The trainer may opt to apply in either of these languages.

Vocational training courses

Vocational training prepares an individual for a specific vocation or occupation, for the world of work. It is a main key for people to become self-reliant, widens the opportunities for people to find a job, which fits with their talents and preferences, helps them to get decent work and a fair income, helps people to come out of the poverty trap and provides them with skills to make progress in their life. Skill development also contributes in enhancing individual’s employability, both wage and self-employment and ability to adapt to changing technologies and labour market demands. Training wing of the Department of Employment and Training is functioning with the aim of developing skilled work force through diversified courses to meet the requirement of industries and to equip employment skills in people through a large number of courses in different trades in the State.

Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) play a vital role in imparting skill training under Craftsmen Training Scheme and produce technician level work force in the State in different trades. Various skill training programmes are being implemented through a vast network of Government ITIs and Private ITIs in the State. Systematic training offered in these institutes in different trades to ensure a steady flow of skilled manpower to the industries.  At present there are 658 Private affiliated ITIs in Tamil Nadu with a total seating capacity of 68,334. These Private ITIs are affiliated with National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) and are imparting training in National Council for Vocational Training approved courses.

The Mission of the Department is to improve the technical Skill of all people in the community by:

• Developing the world class technicians in all sectors
• Conducting the highest quality training
• Educating technical skills.

The following are the schemes available under the vocational courses-

• Craftsmen Training Scheme;
• Apprentice Training Scheme;
• Industrial schools;
• Basic Training Centers;
• Public Private Partnership;
• Skill Development Initiative - Modular Employable Skill (SDI - MES)
• Freebies schemes.

Grants-in-Aid to Tamil Nadu

Vide lr. No. F. No. - B.120t219/2017-SNP, dated 28.04.2017, MSDE released the funds to Tamil Nadu for implementation of State Engagement Component under PMKVY by Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation as detailed below-

Sl.No.	Item	Amount (in Rupees)
(A)	Total amount to be released for year 2016-18 of the Central amount – 1st tranche	68,86,21,440
(B)	50% of the (A) tranche of the payment for the year 2016-18	34,43,10,720

Rs.34,43,10,720/- has been released to the Tamil Nadu Government vide this order, which is subject to the condition that the amount is to be utilized for the purpose for which it is released.

Target of Tamil Nadu Government

The following is the target submitted by the Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation, Tamil Nadu Government as mentioned in the above said letter is as in the below table-

Parameter	2016-18	2018-19	2019-20	Total
A.  Total trainees to be trained	46,960	46,960	46,960	1,40,880
B.  Training funds required @ avg. cost 14,100 per trainee	66,21,36,000	66,21,36,000	66,21,36,000	1,98,64,08,000
C.  Administrative expense @ 4% of total expenses	2,64,85,440	2,64,85,440	2,64,85,440	7,94,56,320
Total funds required (B+C)	68,66,21,440	68,66,21,440	68,66,21,440	2,06,58,64,320

Challenges before the Corporation

The following are the changes before the Corporation-

• Mobilisitation of candidates for skill training ;
• Social stigma attached with blue collar jobs;
• Low pay offered initially to skilled persons;
• Making Public and Private training partners adopt to NSQF / NOS / QP standards;
• Absence of trained trainers to match the training requirements of this magnitude is a major hitch.

The following are the institutional issues-

• Lack of coordination between NSDC/SSC and TNSDC in identification ,implementing and monitoring of training;
• Information sharing is not happening about skill training through NSDC/SSC partner;
• Duplication in training;
• Irrelevant QPs;
• Non availability of Curriculum;
• There is no dedicated Scheme / funding from Government of India for SSDMs.
• Lack of assessment facilities at state level.

Tamil Nadu Skills Summit 2018

Tamil Nadu has been leading in skill development and ranks first among all States in terms of the number of factories and industrial workers. The Key industries in Tamil Nadu include Heavy commercial vehicles, Automobile and Auto Components, Engineering, IT and ITeS, Cement, Banking and Financial Services, Drugs and Pharmaceuticals, Agro and food processing, Textiles and Garments, Leather tanning industries, Electronic hardware and Tourism.  The Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation to further the initiative on skill development organized the "Tamil Nadu Skill Summit 2018" at Advanced Training Institute (ATI), Guindy, Chennai -32, on 9th and 10th June 2018.

Tamil Nadu Individual Skills Hunt, 2018

The individual Skills Hunt is a platform for identifying and selecting skilled individuals in the State to showcase their expert vocational skills and individual talents in the following trades. The final round of hunt was held at two it is at Guindy and Ambattur, Advanced Training Institute and Anna University in Chennai, on 11th and 12th June 2018.  Only the individuals born on or after 01.01.1997 were eligible to participate in the Skills Hunt, 2018.  The winners in the State Level Hunts will be eligible to participate in the Southern Regional Skill competitions held at Bengaluru from 21.06.2018 to 23.06.2018.   The winners in the Regional Skill competition has got a change to exhibit their skills in India Skill Competition, New Delhi and World Skills Competition to be held Russia in 2019.     

Way forward

• The need based or industry based programmes which are already under implementation need to be revisited by the training partners;
• Flexi MoU with Sector Skill Councils;
• Absence of trained trainers to match the training requirements of this magnitude is a major hitch.
• The Central Agencies in association with state bodies should treat major initiative to create pool of trained master trainers to conduct TOT in sectors so far identified.
• A parallel initiative of establishing low key Multi Skill Development centers (MSDC) under SCVT pattern in other than urban and semi urban will help rural youth for skilling within the vicinity.
• Recognizes semi skilled people in informal sectors with work experience by assessing their skill levels and provide proper certification under RPL.

Conclusion

The National Skill Development Mission launched by the Government of India envisions skilling at scale with speed and standards with focus on strengthening Institutional Training, Infrastructure, Convergence, Training of Trainers, Overseas Employment, Sustainable Livelihoods and Leveraging Public Infrastructure. The National Policy for Skill development and Entrepreneurship 2015 provide an enabling framework to realize the vision. The National Policy targets to skill and reskill about 400 million by 2022. It’s a huge challenge considering that the percentage of the formally trained in India are low at 4.69 per cent of the total workforce compared to countries like Germany with 75%, Korea with 96%.  The States in our country also play a vital role in the skill development program.  Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation is also formulating with a vision to transform the State into skill hub of the country by enhancing the employability skills of the youth to match the industry expectations.  As on February 2017 TNSDC has trained 2,41,993 youth.  The Tamil Nadu Government, it is hoped that it will act on line with its mission.

References:

1. www.tnskillshunt.in
2. www.tnskill.tn.gov.in
3. https://tnvelaivaippu.gov.in
4. www.msde.gov.in
5. www.nsda.gov.in
6. www.skilltraining.gov.in
7. www.niti.gov.in