Textile mills to train workers under Union government scheme

Skill council has standardised training syllabus for 56 jobs in spinning, weaving, knitting processing

In a move that will standardise training in the textile units, several textile mills in Coimbatore region have agreed to train workers through the Textile Sector Skill Council, which is supported by the Union Government.

J.V. Rao, chief executive officer of the council, told The Hindu here on Friday that though there are several State and Union Government schemes that support skill development in the manufacturing sector and the units have in-house training programmes, the skill council has standardised the training syllabus for 56 jobs in spinning, weaving, knitting and processing. It has prepared a syllabus for each job and the worker will be trained to get maximum efficiency in that job. The syllabus has been prepared with inputs from the industry and it will be reviewed every year.

The proposal is to have approved agencies to train the trainers and they will in turn train the employees. “We are now requesting all the textile research associations to enhance the skill training capabilities,” he says. The council’s immediate focus in on textile units in Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh as the number of spinning units is high in these States.

The units can have in-house trainers or employ trainers from outside. Each unit that is willing to take part in this project will have to be affiliated with the council. The trained workers will get a certificate and the units can avail of assistance under different schemes of the Union Government.

“The objective is to involve the private sector to develop the skills of workers,” he says. Each worker who undergoes training will have to go through biometric registration and if a worker is already trained at a unit and moves to another one, there will be recognition for prior learning.

The 56 jobs cover 80 per cent of the workers in the industry. Most of them have undergone training on an ad-hoc basis. But, the initiative needs to be standardised. Workers also need training in soft skills, safety and health issues, he says. The textile industry is transforming with units investing huge amounts in automation. The focus now is on skills, knowledge and performance. The Centre provides Rs. 2 crore annually for the two years and Rs. 1 crore to the council for the third year. The industry contributes Rs. 20 lakh a year for two years and Rs. 10 lakh in the third year. Prabhu Damodaran, secretary of Texpreneurs Forum, added that new recruits constitute almost 30 per cent of the workforce in the spinning sector.