Y.S. RANA, CHANDIGARH—State of unemployed in Himachal Pradesh may have an indefinite past and imperfect present but, given the indulgence and thrust of the state government in skilling up programmes in association with the Wadhwani Foundation, it can surely look forward to a perfect future of unemployed. India grows young and most of the advanced countries are growing old, it provides an opportunity to us to become global talented skilled workforce. Hence, job creation has become the primary imperative for the country.
Keeping this, Education department, Himachal Pradesh and Wadhwani Foundations have joined hands and successfully culminated of placement drive held recently in the State under the first ever National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF). The project witnessed record placement of 524 students who were trained under the programme ‘Skill Develop Network’ (SDN) initiated by the Wadhwani Foundations.
The placement drive has recently concluded involving 40 companies and 833 students participated at nine different locations, including Shimla, Mandi, Hamirpur and Kangra. Companies like Eureka Forbes, Fortis Hospital, Max Hospital, Platinum Chevrolet, Saini Motors (Tata), Himtex Textiles, G4S Securities were present at the placement drive to select suitable candidate. The students, who secured placement with the companies, have been offered salary package ranging between Rs. 5,000/- to Rs. 9,700/- per month, with the highest salary of Rs. 15,000/- per month.
Speaking on the occasion, the state project director, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) Mr Ghanshyam Chand said,” the only way of expanding skill training is to foray in mainstream education. NAQF has opened window of opportunities for secondary school students in the State. It benefits students at grassroots level and improves employability in future.” He also thanked the efforts of the state education department and his knowledge and technology partners, Wadhwani Foundations.
Shalini Thakur who completed her XII standard along with Level 4 in Healthcare sector from GGSS Portmore, Shimla is now working with Portea Health Care Company with a salary of Rs. 11,500 per month. She is extremely grateful to her teachers and other mentor on her successful placement. She said, “I come from a lower middle class family and our financial condition is not good so I wanted to take up a job. When NSQF project came to Himachal Pradesh, I was the student of first batch of Healthcare domain. As I took admission in this domain, I was not at all aware about the benefits of this domain. She thanked Faculty, Ms. Hemlata Kaundal, who has taught her the advantages of Healthcare domain that facilitate to get job. Moreover she inculcated confidence in our personality and helped in developing our communication skills, always motivating us to give our best. Now I stand on my own feet.”
Vocational training to secondary and higher secondary education scheme aligned with National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) was launched in Himachal Pradesh in 2013 with 100 schools and 5000 students under its roll. The vocational courses initially included Automobiles, Health Care, IT/ ITes, Retail and Security. Agriculture and Travel and Tourism were later introduced in the second year with an addition of 100 more schools. The foundation had trained over 500 vocational trainers in implementation strategies and e-learning programs in the schools “ Since then the initiative witnessed a dramatic progress with the addition of 300 schools and incorporate of telecommunication sector in the curricula taking total strength of schools to 500 with 1200 vocational trainer and more than 42,000 students on its roll in this fiscal, revealed by Manish Mohan, executive vice president, Skill Development Network (SDN).
Regular school visits were conducted by specialists from the Foundations to identify fundamental issues, prospects and hurdles. Skill development training was made more informative and interesting by using multi-media based e-content, which has been widely accepted and appreciated by students as well as the vocational trainers, added Manish Mohan.
Founded in 2000 by Dr. Romesh Wadhwani, the Foundations’ primary mission is economic acceleration in emerging economies has leveraged entrepreneurship as a catalyst for job creation with setting up of National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) in 2003. It inspires, NEN inspires, educates and supports emerging entrepreneurs and has resulted in 2,000 new start-ups with 12,000+ direct and 50,000+ indirect jobs, and is now tracking 1,500+ new companies each year.