By IANS
New Delhi : The Indian government will help train about one million youth and also test and certify their existing skills over a period of five years under the Skill Development Initiative (SDI).
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday approved the implementation of SDI, which is estimated to cost Rs.5.5 billion.
Briefing reporters, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said it is aimed at providing skill training to young boys and girls above the age of 15 who are keen to acquire some vocational training but lack the resources.
It is also aimed at helping unemployed youth acquire professional skills, he said, adding there was no upper age limit.
Dasmunsi said it would be a centrally sponsored scheme with 100 percent central assistance.
Under SDI, about 200 modules for employable skills as per industry and labour market demands would be identified and a course curriculum developed for this purpose.
The scheme is meant to help those passing out of schools, existing workers and Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) graduates to improve their employability by optimally utilising the infrastructure available in government and private institutions and industry.
The government has estimated an average expenditure of Rs.5,000 per person on imparting training and certification of the work force. Therefore, direct expenses for a million people will be Rs.5 billion. The remaining Rs.500 million will be spent on providing support services, studies and the administrative cost to be incurred by prescribed institutes, explained the minister.
He said initially 1,896 government ITIs and 3,218 private industrial training centres affiliated to the National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) would be recognised and eligible for imparting this training.
The main features of the scheme include providing demand driven short-term training courses based on Modular Employable Skills (MES) decided in consultation with the Industry.