‘Candidates from T.N. will excel in IndiaSkills competition’

Interactive session with engineering and polytechnic students conducted

V. Vishnu (left), MD of Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation, at the district-level competitions held at PSG College of Technology in Coimbatore on Friday.

Candidates from Tamil Nadu will excel in the IndiaSkills competition, said V. Vishnu, Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation (TNSDC), here on Friday.

He visited the PSG College of Technology where district level competitions for the IndiaSkills competition were organised on Friday. “We have got really good candidates this year from the sectors where Tamil Nadu is already strong such as automobile, 3D prototyping and robotics,” Mr. Vishnu told The Hindu on the sidelines of his visit.

The competitions will be held at district, State and regional levels prior to the national-level IndiaSkills competition in June, which is organised by the National Skill Development Corporation.

Training

Those candidates who get selected at IndiaSkills will undergo training for a period of eight months to participate in the WorldSkills competition, an international skills-based competition which will be held in Shanghai, China in 2021.

“The fundamental idea is making vocational education aspirational,” Mr. Vishnu said, for which events like WorldSkills will provide an incentive for students to improve their skills.

He noted that TNSDC roped in participants from previous editions of WorldSkills for consultations prior to the district-level competitions and sought the cooperation of District Collectors across the State to create awareness among students to register this year.

As part of the visit, Mr. Vishnu also had an interactive session with the engineering and polytechnic students from PSG College of Technology, where he stressed the importance of skills in the present job market.

He also interacted with M. Kamal Prasath Balaji and T. Dharmaraj, alumni of PSG College of Technology who participated in WorldSkills held at Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2015. A. Latha, Regional Joint Director (Employment), told The Hindu that as many as 11,156 candidates have registered for the district-level competitions in nine districts namely Coimbatore, Tiruppur, the Nilgiris, Karur, Erode, Salem, Namakkal, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri. Among the 1,03,000 candidates registered across India, 24,596 candidates were from Tamil Nadu, Ms. Latha said.