Noting that skill is yet to become aspirational among youth, a Chief Ministers' panel has called for roping in private players, tax sops and use of MPLAD funds, cess like education and construction for skill development programmes.
".. Skill is yet to become aspirational among youth. The pathway to career growth through skill development is yet to strike among the unemployed/under employed," the report of a Chief Ministers' Sub-Group on Skill Development in NITI Aayog has said.
According to the panel, training institutes such as the ITIs continue to be under-utilised, lack of trainers, inadequate training facilities in nearby villages and small towns persists. The skill development efforts remained fragmented and in silos.
The panel which had Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal as its convener, has suggested that industry should be incentivised to set up training institutions in PPP mode in industry clusters to facilitate availability of trained manpower for big and MSME units and to adopt existing government ITIs and Polytechnics.
It also asked explore possibility of introducing legislation on Right of Youth to Skill Development to make it mandatory on the part of the state to impart skill training to every eligible youth may be explored.
The panel is of the view that the vocational education may be introduced from the middle level onwards with SSDM (state skill development mission) having the responsibility to explore the marketability potential of traditional skill sets of the State. This would motivate the children to take up training in traditional skills especially in states that excel in handicrafts, wood art and handlooms.
Further the international models viz German, Chinese and Singapore may be studied for replication in India. Flexibility to states to introduce local and traditional skills meeting local needs to be provided under various central government administered skill programs and attract local youth for training, it said.
The panel has also asked to use 2 per cent coporate social responsibility funds exclusively for skill development initiatives.
Besides, it asked to use cess collected under the Building and other Construction Workers Cess Act, 1996 for skill development.
It suggested to explore possibility of use MPLAD/MLA funds for creating infrastructure for skill development.
It also said that funds generated under education cess could also be used for introducing vocational education from secondary school onwards.
The panel has asked to make a budget provision by Skill Development Ministry for all states to set up skill universities or convert one of the existing universities as a skill university under PPP mode. This funding could be made available through NSDF/NSDC.
The Railways and other para-military forces can play a more proactive role in advocacy and skill development, instead of just focusing on recruitment rallies, it said.
