Ministries without expertise urged to discontinue VET, transfer budget
None of the 17 ministries in addition to the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, which are doing skill development, owns the nationally recognised National Vocational Education & Training (VET) standards.
And the ministries who do not have any domain expertise nor have set up any specialised vocational training centres to meet the specific skill needs of their sectors, should stop doing it now.
The government-appointed panel led by former director general of employment and training Sharda Prasad has recommended that the nine ministries that do not have expertise nor training infrastructure of their own, may be asked to discontinue VET and transfer their budget and staff to the skill development ministry.
The panel was set up to suggest improvement in the national skill development mission.
These ministries are rural development, urban housing and poverty alleviation, communication and IT, tribal affairs, women and child development, development of north eastern region, home affairs, minority affairs and social justice and empowerment.
However, eight other ministries, which have got their own training infrastructure, may continue with the condition that they will be required to align their course curricula with the National Standards to meet the skills needs of their sectoral industries, it said.
These ministries are agriculture, MSME, HRD, textile, commerce and industry, tourism, chemicals and fertilizers and food processing industries.