Smart skill-development training

TEXTILE TRAINING

The Apparel Training & Design Centre (ATDC) is in the forefront to create a new horizon for the apparel sector, and believes that ‘training’ is a learning process, which involves acquisition of knowledge, sharpening of skills, concepts, rules, or changing of attitudes and behaviours to fill the gap between what people want to do, and what they are presently able to do.

Industry sources predict the domestic textile market to grow to US $60 billion and exports to $50 billion by 2015. The sector-wise employment for all segments, including textiles, apparel, handicrafts, handlooms, sericulture, jute, etc is projected to grow to a total of US $45.19 million by 2011-12, which means that an additional 12 million jobs could be created, of which 5 million will be in the core technological areas of production activities in the textiles and apparel supporting and auxiliary services. Thus, the need for skilled and aptly trained workforce to support the upward movement of the industry becomes imperative.

Vocational education and training for skill and development has increasingly become a matter of national importance. The National Skill Development Policy is a step forward in this direction just as the new Skill Development Initiative of the Ministry of Textiles (MOT), Government of India and the ATDC’s selection as a nodal agency for implementation of the scheme for the Textiles and Apparel Sector.

To support this issue of Skill Development, MOT, GoI launched the Integrated Skill Development Scheme for the Textile and Apparel sector with a total outlay of  Rs.2300 crore and an ambitious target of training a workforce of about 2.56 lakh in the next two years.  

The first state-of-the-art centre ATDC-SMART (Skill for Manufacturing Apparels through Research and Training) in the country was inaugurated as part of this launch in Egmore, Chennai to impart the skills envisaged.

The ATDC-SMART project under the MOT, GOI is focused on core workforce requirements of the garment industry located in various manufacturing centres and apparel clusters across India.  The apparel industry is the largest employment provider in the country after agriculture. Rural youth and women are the biggest beneficiaries of the skill training in the apparel sector and they find gainful employment not far from their area of domicile in most cases.

Studies indicate that Rs.1 crore investment in an apparel manufacturing factory result in 500 direct and 200 indirect jobs. The apparel sector is estimated to employ over 7 million workers directly and 23 million indirectly out of which 50 per cent are in the export sector. With intensive training at the ATDC over 58,000 candidates have joined the apparel sector and every year ATDC trains nearly 10,000 students.

Bangalore is one of the largest apparel clusters in the country with an annual turnover of almost Rs. 5,000 crore. Being one of the major producers of silk and cotton, the apparel industry has been on the rise in Bangalore. As per the estimates of the Department of Industries and Commerce there are around 800 RMGIs (Ready-made Garment Industries) in and around Bangalore.

The ATDC has been selected as a nodal agency under the Integrated Skill Development Scheme of the government of India and is mandated to train 40,000 candidates in the next two years and 1.7 lakh over the next five years. All ATDC’s will focus on setting up SMART centres within the hubs and centres while establishing new spokes in the existing and emerging apparel clusters and manufacturing centres.

In Karnataka, out of ATDC’s existing network, Bangalore, Gadag, Hubli, Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Maddur, Tumkur, and Ramnagar are being developed as state-of-the-art ATDC-SMART centres and talks are underway to establish new spokes in the emerging apparel clusters like Hassan, Chitradurga, Davengere, Belgaum, Gulbarga, Bellary, Gouribidanur, Doddaballapur, Bangarapet, Shimoga, Mandya and Mysore.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, ATDC Additional Director R Balaji said, that SMART courses for school dropouts are specially designed to bridge the gap between industry requirements and skills of the future workforce. These courses are of one to three months duration and come with a nominal fee starting from Rs.1,200. Technology, particularly the use of digital elements, will play a pivotal role in facilitating personalised learning in each of the designed courses, he added.

“The eight hours rigorous training per day at the SMART centres, which will have a simulation of the apparel industry, with uniforms, toolkits and imported machines like Juki, Brother, Kansai, Pegasus, etc, helps the candidate be ready to work within three months”, he added.

For further details visit www.atdcindia.co.in, or write to [e-mail], or contact 080-25585975, 41512917.