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The fair not only has pavilions based on the theme, but also a range of seminars and conferences are being held as part of the programme to discuss issues related to skills education. The national skill development mission aims at training 500 million people by 2022.
After one of the brainstorming session on Thursday, Pooja Gianchandani, Director of Skills Development at FICCI, said almost 60 lakh youth in West Bengal would receive training over the next 10 years to hone their skills or learn new ones.
West Bengal Minister for Technical Education and Training, Rabiranjan Chattopadhyaya, said: “The target for the state has been pegged at 60 lakh. Keeping this target in mind, we have our job cut out. The government alone cannot shoulder this responsibility. It is imperative that we have to look partnerships.”
He released a report, “Skill for All-New Approaches to Skilling India”, prepared by FICCI and Manipal City and Guilds during the seminar.
Stating that skills development was a major challenge, Chattopadhyaya said: “We have set up a state-level skills development mission. This will initiate a single-window approach for imparting skills training and introducing national-level curricula, evaluation and certification to improve employment opportunity for the youth within and outside the state.”
He said the West Bengal government was upgrading its existing infrastructure such as vocational training centres and polytechnics.
Gianchandani said: “The IITF provides a good platform for the industry and governments to interact. FICCI is interacting with different states on a day-to-day basis. The focus was on skills education at the interactive session with the West Bengal government.”
“The workshop looked at four main areas of skills development, providing a training centre, a university which needs to be set up in collaboration with industries, the need for West Bengal to make the state more attractive for investors and the formation of a mission management unit by the government,” Gianchandani said.
Similar interactive sessions with Bihar and Andhra Pradesh are being planned for Friday and Saturday.
There will be a youth engagement workshop on November 27. “The focus is on retail and wellness. There are huge opportunities in both sectors. Reliance Retail and monster.com are invited to the workshop,” Gianchandani said.
