Karnataka Government to sign an MoU with Domestic Workers Sector Skill Council to skill 1 lakh domestic workers

Bengaluru : At least 1 lakh domestic workers in Karnataka will, over the next six months, gain a professional edge and be equipped with cooking, elder care, child care and gardening, among other skills, making them eligible for employment inside and outside the country.

In pursuit of building a national-level skilling ecosystem, the Karnataka government is set to sign a memorandum of understanding with Domestic Workers Sector Skill Council (DWSSC) to skill up government-identified domestic workers across 10 different levels.

One of the 21 sector skill councils in the country , DWSSC is working towards developing national occupation standards for domestic workers, a standard training programme across the country, and preparing booklets and material on the topic, among other responsibilities. Amod Kanth, founder CEO and chairman of DWSSC, said MoUs had been signed with 10 states.The latest in the pipeline are Karnataka and Maharashtra. “Domestic workers can be trained to be experts in elder care, child care (post and prenatal), cooking, gardening and several other categories,” he said, adding till now, only illegal agencies were active in Karnataka.

“Once the training is complete, they will be able to get employment in corporates and MNCs. With a government authorized certificate in hand, along with a bill of physical fitness and a police verification document, their opportunities will increase. We are looking to skill up approximately 1lakh of them in the first six months,” Muralidhar Halappa, chairman, Skill Development Corporation, said, adding that awareness programmes among citizens about providing health and provident fund benefits would also be conducted.

“It will cost the household a nominal monthly amount to help set up PF accounts accompanied with passbooks that can be used for future jobs. The UN Development Programme and International Labour Organization will help in uniform guidelines and identification of training partners to conduct the courses,” he said.

According to Kanth, the national centre of the DWSSC is set to send 60 women who have completed training to foreign countries to work. With government authorized work permits in hand, the women will be able to command a salary of Rs 25,000-Rs 30,000. According to him, in countries like the UK, this may go up to Rs100,000.

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