With the registration in state’s Employment Exchange reaching 43 lakh and students less equipped to meet the growing demand for skilled manpower the General Education and Higher Education Departments are launching the Additional Skill Acquisition Programme (ASAP) in 140 government schools and 41 government colleges from November 1.
“The programme aims to offer sufficient training to students and enhance their employability,” General Education Secretary M Sivasankar said. The overall employability is considered to be below 25 per cent in the state and the ASAP will be given to Plus-Two and undergraduate students in select schools and colleges. This is part of state’s mentor Sam Pitroda’s plans to boost vocational education to help school, college dropouts and those with no intention of pursuing higher studies to bag jobs. “The MLAs will identify the schools and colleges in their respective constituencies. Trained teachers and experts from the industry will guide each batch of 30 students for an extra hour after classes for a year. Hands-on experience will be given priority so that students are likely to be absorbed,” said Vivekanandan Nair, in charge of ASAP.
Training will be offered in communication skills for business, construction management, event management, hospitality and tourism management, IT modules, healthcare and retail management. These sectors require trained hands and the programme will help address the issue. This will also help orient students towards a goal without yielding to anti-social temptations.
The 300-hour programme is divided into two modules, one of 180-hour duration in which 100 hours will be dedicated to communicative English course and 80 hours for IT sector. The other module comprises 120 hours of skill development in the selected subject. At a later phase the programme will focus on providing vocational training at the higher secondary and university levels that will be dovetailed into the National Vocational Educational Qualifications Framework. The courses will be designed with active participation of the industry and facilitation and support of universities which will provide certificates, diplomas and degrees in conformity with the guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission.
The state skill development project envisages the involvement of the Education, Labour and LSGD, with the General Education Department taking the preventive approach and Labour Department going in for the curative approach in alleviating the unemployment problem of the state.
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