Skill gap in various sectors of trade has been an issue for quite a while now. This is expected to be addressed with the establishment of Sector Skill Council (SSC) for 27 trades initially.
The Government has, as per the mandate of National Skill Development Council (NSDC), set up Sector Skill Council for various sectors.
And the Chairman of the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) A. Sakthivel, who has been appointed as the first Chairman of SSC for apparel, made-ups and home furnishings, told
“There is always a shortage of labour of around 15 per cent in the apparel sector. Besides paucity in labour, skill gap is another issue that has been worrying the industry. While there are a number of training schools, no standard has been set with regard to skill training; and when an individual undergoes training, it is for a particular task. Our intention is to train the individual in multiple skills. Even existing workers should be given an opportunity to be trained,” he added.
The Council is looking to cover and certify over 18 lakh workers in 10 years. “This Council will be a certification agency. We will also do training of trainers.”
He said the trainers would be trained at either of the academy in Thiruvananthapuram or Madhya Pradesh or Delhi.
The Council is mandated to develop a skills repository, standard, evaluation criteria and accreditation system for creating employability in vital sectors. “We will undertake a skill gap study, set up national occupational standards, develop accreditation framework and provide labour market information,’ Sakthivel said.
Training cost On training cost, he said “there are 2 -3 Government schemes. The outgo for the workers would not be much, only 10 per cent; the rest would be borne by the Centre and State governments. And this would be made available only to certified skill providing institutions.”