Three employment training entities in Tiruchi district have applied to the Directorate of Employment and Training, New Delhi, to implement the Central government’s skill development initiative scheme (SDIS) under which short-term courses are offered under MES (modular employment skill) training.
The courses that R.K.Charitable Trust, Sixth Computer and Lakshmi Apparels intend to conduct will bestow on trainees NCVT (national council for vocational training) certification that is recognised nationally and internationally. The objective of the MES is to provide vocational training to school leavers, existing workers, and ITI graduates to improve their employability by optimally utilising the infrastructure available in government, private institutions and the industry, for cost-effectiveness. The scheme also provides for testing and certifying existing skills of existing workers. Demand-driven short-term courses based on MES are decided in consultation with industry. The Directorate General of Employment and Training (DGET), Ministry of Labour, had set out to train one million persons in various skills in the XI plan period.
The public private partnership (PPP) that the scheme envisages through active participation of industry and private sector paves way for forecasting emerging areas of employment at micro level, development of course curricula of various trades, development of instruction material for training, on the job training, development of assessment standards, and monitoring and quality assurance.
According to P.Parameswari, assistant director, government related instruction centre, industrial training institute (GRIC), Tiruverumbur, the courses are conducted even for existing workers on a part-time basis under the MES training scheme.
The durations of the courses vary between 90 hours and 300 hours. But, most of the courses are of 120-hour duration.
For the vocational training providers (VTPs), involvement in the MES training scheme is reasonably remunerative since the DGET provides Rs.15 a person per hour to train an individual. The GRIC has so far registered about 22 VTPs in Tiruchi, and ranks among the top performers in the country. On completion of the course, the trainees become eligible to appear for NCVT exam and obtain certificates from the DGET, Ms.Parameswari said.
Of the three new VTP applicants, R.K.Trust already has exposure to conduct training programmes along with Periyar Technology Business Incubator, Vallam. As a partner institution of entrepreneurship development institute, Government of Tamil Nadu, R.K. Trust has plans to conduct two entrepreneurship development programmes (EDPs). Teaming up with MSME-DI (micro small and medium enterprises – development institute), R.K. Trust has started an ESDP (entrepreneurship and skill development programme) in fabrication engineering.
