Northeast got its First Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKK), skill development centers in every district soon

Guwahati : Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal assured to fast-track its skill-development initiatives by setting up centres for young entrepreneurs in every district and block of the state.

“We will set up skill-development centres in every district and block of the state so that our youths can hone their skills and either start their ventures or get absorbed in companies. From our side, we will approach various firms to ensure that the trained people get jobs,” chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal said after inaugurating the first Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKK) of the Northeast.

The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra is a state-of-the-art model training centre that envisages creation of benchmark institutions that demonstrate value for competency-based skill-development training, besides focusing on elements of quality, sustainability and connecting with stakeholders in the skills delivery process.

The centres are set up under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana of the Union ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship. The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) is the implementing agency. The short-term courses run in these centres are aligned to the National Skill Qualification Framework, which is a competency based framework that organizes all qualifications according to a series of levels of knowledge, skills and aptitude.

The NSDC will ensure quality training and management of the structured skill development programme. In Assam, NSDC has partnered with Bengal-based skills development company, Orion Edutech and Anjaybee Green, a mission in the agro-business sector.

The centre in Guwahati is spread over 12,000 square feet in Panjabari. “The target is to provide free training and employment to at least 10,000 candidates in three years. We currently have verticals such as training in apparel, sewing, beauty, food and beverages, hospitality, retail and customer care,” said Nayanjyoti Bhattacharyya of Anjaybee.

Six more such centres are coming up in Darrang, Morigaon, Nagaon, Baksa, Chirang and Kamrup districts of Assam by the year-end. About 26 PMKKs have been allotted in the first phase across the Northeast.

The Centre had last month reiterated that the Northeast was a prime focus in the overall development plan for the country, especially from the skill development perspective. The ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship plans to set up skill development centres in all the clusters of Assam and in all districts of the other northeastern states.

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