CENTRE FAILS IN SKILL TEST

Govt appointed panel says skill development programme has failed in deciding role of different stakeholders

NEWDELHI: Overlapping roles and responsibilities of various departments have foiled the government’s efforts to push the skills development programme to the intended level of spurring jobs and economic growth, says a committee appointed to look into the signature scheme.

The five-member panel of Sharda Prasad, former director general of general employment and training in the labour ministry, said in its report that the scheme has faltered in establishing the role of the industry, government agencies and stakeholders in developing skills among the people.

“The skill ecosystem is still emerging and has not taken a final shape in terms of positioning and exact role and responsibility of participating institutions with well-defined processes and functions…” said the report made public last Thursday.

The panel attributed several reasons for the slow progress of the scheme that Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched in July 2015 with a corpus of ₹6,000 crore to train initially 2.4 million youth in various vocational skills.

The main drawback could be too many cooks, going by the committee’s findings.

The report underscored apparent overlaps across organisations such as the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), National Skill Development Authority (NSDA), National Skill Qualification Committee (NSQC), National Council on Vocational Training (NCVT) and Directorate General of Training (DGT). The panel suggested that such “duplication” should be avoided as all these agencies are doing the same task.

Another suggestion is to merge most of the 40 sector skill councils (SSC) that run training centres, and bring their numbers to half.

“An entity tasked to develop competencies should not participate in the examination of certification of the same competencies. An SSC develops competency and also tests and certifies the competency in short-term training courses. Same is happening in long-term courses as well,” the report said.

To avoid the promoter donning the regulator’s role, the committee said a National Board of Assessment and Certification should be created.

Skills development cannot happen without a credible national system, which is quality assured and internationally compatible, it added.

THE PANEL SUGGESTED MERGER OF A MAJORITY OF 40 SECTOR SKILL COUNCILS RUNNING SKILL DEVELOPMENT CENTRES TO HALF THEIR NUMBERS