Singapore's technical institute to set up centres in India

Singapore's prestigious Institute of Technical Education will help set up vocational skill centres across India to train youths to fulfil the requirements of skilled manpower in selected industries.

ITE Education Services (ITEES), a subsidiary of the state- owned Institute of Technical Education (ITE) which offers consultancy and training services in skills development and vocational training to more than 25 countries, is already working on other projects in India, the first of which is slated to commence training from September 27 in Rajasthan, coinciding with the World Tourism Day.

"We note the strong interest of the Indian Government to engage ITEES for consultancy services in enhancing Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) across India and this was further emphasised during (Power) Minister Piyush Goyal's visit to the ITE College Central last month," said Lim Boon Tiong, Director, Asia Group at ITEES.

 

"We believe ITEES can contribute to 'Skill India' programme by playing a catalytic role in helping to set up a few model institutions in selected locations in India. These model institutions will allow for knowledge and technology transfer and eventually be replicated in other parts of India with ITEES continuing to play supportive role to ensure quality and international standards," Tiong said.

Goyal was briefed on ITE and ITEES programmes during his visit to Singapore in May. His delegation has held subsequent meetings with ITEES.

For a start, India has requested ITEES to conduct an on site analysis of skilled manpower requirement for a few selected industry sectors with the aim to help set up two model Skills Centre in Delhi and Varanasi. The programmes to be offered will be tailored to the needs of local industries and for training both urban and village youths, said ITEES.

A similar approach was taken in preparing an extensive programme for a Centre of Excellence Tourism Training (CETT) in Udaipur under an MoU signed by ITEES and the Rajasthan state government in 2014, Lim said.

ITEES will train the trainers for Udaipur CETT which will be launched by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on September 27. The trainers will deliver training programmes at CETT, mostly designed for training manpower for the state's tourism sector, the institute said.

ITEES has also signed a similar MoU with Madhya Pradesh government during Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's visit to Singapore in January, ground work for which is being done for another CETT-type campus.

In another project, ITEES' consultancy is in the midst of completing ground work for the development of a TVET campus in Kolkata under another MoU with businessman K K Bangur. This will be a private-sector-operated campus to offer skills training under a corporate social responsibility initiative.

"We have started working on these projects in various stages and hopes to contribute to the development of Indian skilled manpower," Lim said.

Established in 2003, ITEES is Singapore's response for helping its partners build skilled manpower globally, especially in developing economies.