The Indian government has announced R120bn ($1.8bn) in funding to train 10 million people to meet global skills standards by 2020 through online training at international skills centres.
The move is part of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) plan, approved by Prime Minister Modi’s cabinet this month, and is the latest effort by the National Skills Development Corporation to scale training to plug the country’s massive gap in skills capacities.
The public-private partnership NSDC has been mandated to skill 150 million Indians by 2022.
The centres will provide training to Indian migrants going to live and work in the Middle East
The funding will support the opening of 50 International Skills Centres across the country by year end, with the aim of training six million youth and certifying four million workers who previously acquired non-formal skills training.
President Pranab Mukherjee has already opened 15 centres in the project’s initial phase.
Financial support will be given for travel allowances, boarding and lodging costs of the trainees. After completing the training, students’ placement will be monitored by Rozgar Melas (placement camps) and Kaushal Shivirs (mobilisation camps), according to a government statement.
The centres will allow students to connect to free online training programmes through a newly launched web portal, India Skills Online, in areas including domestic work, retail, security and hospitality.
The centres will also provide training to Indian migrants going to live and work in the Middle East.
The NSDC has partnered with Ireland-based online learning platform ALISON to deliver the online training courses and run India Skills Online.
“Free access to learning, via every device, whether desktop or mobile is essential to make India the skills capital of the world”
“Last year, the NSDC trained 27 million students – mostly off-line – but the future scaling will be enabled online,” ALISON CEO Mike Feerick told The PIE News.
The Middle East cultural courses are aimed at the one million Indians who go to work in the Middle East annually, said Feerick. “We will be targeting populations of potential workers before their departure to learn more about the Middle East – a basic introduction in culture and language,” he explained.
“Over time, we estimate that many millions of Indian immigrants will complete these courses.”
Also through the Skills India Online portal, Indian learners will have access to the full ALISON curriculum of over 750 free online courses, added Feerick. The platform already has over one million registered learners in India.
Rajiv Mathur, operations director of the NSDC, said the partnership with ALISON will be significant in providing skills training at scale. “Working together, the NSDC and ALISON can advance skills training to a whole new generation of learners at a scale and depth not possible til now,” he said.
“Free access to learning, via every device, whether desktop or mobile is essential to make India the skills capital of the world in line with the ambitions of our prime minister, Mr Modi.”
