Guwahati : As part of its new mobilization policy, the State’s Skill Development Mission is preparing short films to give a clearer understanding of various sectors and the prospects and opportunities in them.
Officials said the five/six-minute films are being made to cover some 40 sectors, including hospitality, apparel making, automobiles, agriculture, etc.
“Youths in rural areas do not have much knowledge about the various sectors. They do not know the future prospects and opportunities or if they are really interested in pursuing them. As a result, they tend to go in the wrong direction and later realize they are not meant for the job. For this reason, many of them drop out while pursuing such courses,” said a senior official of the Mission.
Besides being copied in CDs for distribution in rural areas, the films will be also publicized through the social media and TV channels.
In the second stage, the rural youths will be asked to fill up application forms. “The forms will be made available through the town committees, village committees, panchayats etc. The forms will also be available in the soft form. Through these forms we will try to know the areas of interest of the youths. In this process, we will create a pool which will be then given to the training providers,” the official said.
According to the official, the earlier process was not inclusive. “The skill development programmes did not cover all communities and geographical areas. Dropouts were more in the old system as the youths were not sure about their areas of interest due to lack of awareness,” he said.
Circulation of the short films will begin by July end.
The Mission plans to train 1.5 lakh youths this year. The Skill Development Mission is in the process of empanelling training providers for which EoIs (Expression of Interest) have been already floated. While empanelling the training providers, the Mission will follow the guidelines laid down by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and other authorities.
To strengthen the initiative, the Mission will rope in a project management support group.
While the proposed ‘Skill City’, to be set up in collaboration with Singapore-based ITE Education Services is likely to start from a temporary location this year, the government is looking for a 100-bigha plot in and around Guwahati for its permanent location.
The Skill Development Mission will also set up nine centres of excellence in the State. Also, it has sought the abandoned buildings lying with various departments like industry, tea tribes welfare, WPT & BC, etc, to convert them into skill development centres.
Note: News shared for public awareness with reference from the information provided at online news portals.
