Senior Officers’ Meet: Govt Aims At Making Skilled-In-Odisha A Global Household Brand

Bhubaneswar: The state government aims at making “Skilled-in-Odisha” a global household brand by tapping and nurturing the human resources potential and providing affordable and accessible technical and vocational education and skill development training for all sections of society.

This was revealed at the senior officers’ conference of the government in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. The Skill Development and Technical Education (SDTE) department conducted a session on “Skill Development in Odisha” with the theme “Skilling for the World”.

The session started with providing the context in which skilling becomes imperative for India and Odisha, which are home to one of the youngest population in the world. The growth in labour force has to be met with a concomitant growth in opportunities for skilling. Since the demographic dividend of the nation is slated to peak by 2041, the skilling requirements have to be organised keeping this opportunity in view.

The twin issues of access and quality of technical education was discussed, which reflects in the number of youth obtaining technical education and the percentage who are employable, from among those who are trained. Odisha is well poised to tap the opportunity as the GSDP of the state is growing at a higher level than the national average, generating more jobs in the process.

The session deliberated on the twin pillars of access and quality in the sectors of long term skilling (ITIs and polytechnics) and short term skilling (PLTP, PMKVY and DDU-GKY). The commitment towards both these seemingly hard-to-achieve twin goals has been addressed to some extent through the establishment of the World Skill Center, which works in a hub-and -spoke model with the ITIs and Polytechnics.

The session also discussed the challenges including skewed distribution of training infrastructure, inadequate coverage compared to the youth population, gender inequality in technical education and lesser industry connectivity with the skilling institutions. It was emphasised that the roadmap towards a stronger skilling system includes creating pathways between mainstream and vocational education in line with the NEP, tailor made solutions for skilling people who are traditionally excluded, making districts the fulcrum of skill development by bolstering the skill development committees and moving towards skilling in new age areas.

Kalahandi district showcased various initiatives in skilling including the mega drive undertaken for employing girls in Tata Electronics Systems Ltd and for graduate trainees in Vedanta. Block Welfare Extension Officer has been designated as the nodal officer of Skill Development to create synergy between various initiatives at the block level for skill development activities.

Keonjhar district has used funds from DMF and OMBADC to further skilling in mining areas so that the youth can profit from the opportunities in the sector. Some of the initiatives include the CoEs in ITI Barbil, OSME Keonjhar and the GCE Keonjhar. The JN Tata Vocational institute is another example of industry led skilling. In short term skilling, the heavy motor vehicle driving training centre in Jhumpura and the Tassar Skill Park in Bhagamunda offer training as per the local requirements.

To round up, it was revealed that the brand Skilled in Odisha has been created with the intention of drawing national and international attention to the skilling ecosystem in Odisha. The efforts of the government including tie-up with international partners like ITEES and ADB for setting up the World Skill Centre is a step in this direction.