Question : Partnership with International Agencies

(a) whether the Government is planning to bring any communication mechanism to be adopted at different levels for creating awareness on need for skilling at local, State, district and village levels;

(b) whether the Government is considering to adopt SSDMs (State Skill Development Missions) for organizing advertisement campaigns in vernacular language through electronic as well as print medium;

(c) whether any steps are being taken at the school level for creating awareness on vocational education, apprenticeship, etc;

(d) if so, the details thereof;

(e) whether the Government has made any partnership with international agencies for vocational training opportunities and if so, the details thereof?

(a) to (e) To ensure that skilling fulfils the aspiration of the people at local level including Panchayat level, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship is laying emphasis on empowering the District. It is envisaged that the District Skill Committee under the District Collector would not only facilitate development of district skill development plans but also oversee the implementations for better delivery. District Skill Committees would work closely with the Ministry to drive skill development initiatives. In order to strengthen resource support at District level, the Ministry has also introduced the Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF), an initiative designed and implemented by IIM Bangalore in collaboration with State Skill Development Missions (SSDMs), where fellows will be posted in the districts for 2 years and will work closely with the district administration to create specific State Skill Development Plans. Relevant local and state level programs will also receive additional funding under the SANKALP scheme of MSDE, beyond the already allocated state incentive grants. Ministry of Education is implementing the Scheme of Vocationalisation of School Education under the umbrella of ‘SamagraShiksha – an integrated scheme for school education’. Under the scheme a vocational subject is offered for Classes IX to XII along with the general education to provide necessary vocational skills for variety of occupations along with awareness about the benefits of vocational education. The National Skill Development Corporation under the Ministry has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) with 8 countries viz; Japan, UAE, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Russia, Finland and Morocco for cooperation in the field of vocational education and training.