Karnataka government’s skill training programme gets record response

Bengaluru : Karnataka government’s much-hyped employment-cum-skill development training programme has received an overwhelming response across the state to the launch of the web portal and skill app titled Kaushalkar, which has resulted in 3.22 lakh youth enrolling in a span of 10 days.

“Though chief minister Siddaramaiah had opened the platform for public about a fortnight ago, it was made available for about 10 working days and within such a short span we received a response that we had never anticipated,” said Sanjiv Kumar, additional chief secretary of the newly formed Department of Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood

The highest enrollment has been recorded from account executives. Of over three lakh trainees, about 1.55 lakh account executives have registered for training in different job roles followed by Air Conditioner specialists (54049,) delivery associates (47844), accessory fitters (47544), ambulance drivers (20020) and CCTV supervisor (18473). From the districts, officials said the highest response has come from north Karnataka districts of Belagavi , Koppal and Gadag.

Karnataka Vocational Training and Skill Development Corporation chairman Muralidhar Halappa said Gujarat and Rajasthan governments had evinced interest in the web portal and the app and wanted to implement it in their states.

According to officials, on an average, about 150 registrations are being received daily. The government aims to take this forward and create at least five lakh employment during the current financial year in tune with Congress government’s mission to provide employment for 1.80 crore youths, as estimated by the Knowledge Commission of Karnataka, by 2030.

The government will also soon roll out a skill development policy to ensure market-driven skills are imparted. “We will ensure that people get market-oriented skills, especially those required in the industrial and manufacturing sectors. We are already in the process of providing placement and training to at least 25,000 youths who have registered with us,” Kumar said.

Based on Karnataka’s population of 6.5 crore, experts say the unemployment percentage is expected to go up from 30 percent in 2011 to 45% by 2020.”With farming fast becoming increasingly less rewarding than other sectors, farming households are likely to release an increasingly large share of workers every year for non-agricultural activities. Apart from a small share of low-paid agency jobs, education and skill will play a big role in determining employability and the state government programme will be a great facilitator,” said S V Prabhu, a job market specialist.

Note: News shared for public awareness with reference from the information provided at online news portals.