The government has set up a National Skill Development Board headed by Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission. Besides, a National Skill Development Funding Corporation has been started to finance the activities in skill development, official sources said.

The National Council for Skill Development is the apex institution for policy direction and review. The other member of the mission are ministers of HRD, Finance, Industries, Rural Development, Housing and Labour and Employment.

The Prime Minister had convened a meeting of the mission on October 12 where discussions were held on how to take forward the work of skill development, they said. The meeting discussed the present capacity of skill development which is “inadequate to meet the need”. In view of the existing facilities, nearly 2.5 million people are getting skill based training at present. The target group for skill development comprise all those in the labour force, including those entering the labour force for the first time. About 12.8 million people enter the labour force every year, the sources said. The meeting stressed on expansion of capacity for skill development by the concerned ministries.

The HRD Ministry has prepared a detailed plan to increase its capacity. It has already launched a scheme for starting 1000 polytechnics in the country. While about 300 polytechnics will be fully government-funded, another 300 will be in dual funding of the government and private sector while the rest will come up through private funding.

To boost skill based training in different emerging areas among students, the ministry is planning to launch a scheme on vocational education.
The scheme will be meant at secondary level where students can get enrolled for skill-based training and later come back to the regular graduation course, the sources said.

“The scheme is planned with focus on skill development to help students become self-employed. It will have flexibility in allowing a student to pursue vocational course in Class XI and XII and then come back to regular graduation programme. If the student wants, he can further pursue vocational education also,” the sources said.