Co-founder of MindTree Consulting Subroto Bagchi has hailed skill training as a medium for human transformation while stressing on self-employment and building competitiveness.
“Skill is not skill.. its about human transformation. You cannot skill anybody. People skill themselves”, Bagchi said at a seminar organised by the Odisha Private Engineering Schools’ Association (OPESA).
Bagchi has recently assumed charge as the chairperson of Odisha Skill Development Authority. He said that the challenge in skill training like any other trade, lies not in infrastructure constraints but in lack of role models. “The role model can be anyone — the father, mother, elder brother or teacher”, he remarked.
The Odisha government has announced an ambitious plan to provide skill training to over one million youths by 2019 of which around 300,000 have been trained by now. “Over the next three years, we need to train 800,000 people. Not just skill training, they need to be competitive as over 70% of them migrate to other states for jobs. We also need to encourage self-employment”, he said. He expressed concern at the dwindling enrollment of girls in industrial training institutes (it is), saying the trend needs to be reversed.
“I have given up all my previous commitments for this job (skill training). But I am not here to prepare a report and submit it to the state government. My focus is on the youth in rural areas who aspire to be a carpenter, mason, electrician or any other skilled worker”, he said. He cited a string of success stories in Odisha, where the deprived youths from remote pockets have overcome all hurdles and achieved success.
Speaking on the occasion, L N Gupta, principal secretary (employment, technical education & training) said: “There are 869 technical institutions in the state with an intake capacity of 184,000. But 37% of the seats are vacant. We have to carry out a special enrollment drive to ensure that the seats are filled to capacity.”
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