The UPTU has already communicated the targets to all affiliated engineering colleges registered as Vocational Training Providers.

While the government engineering colleges will be providing vocational training to at least 2,000 students, the private institutions will train at least 1,000 students each year.  

The vocational training will be provided to school drop-outs, workers and graduates in as many as 419-short-term courses under 38 sectors. These will include automotive repair, banking and accounting, beauty and culture, electronics, fabrication, hospitality, printing, refrigeration, retail, construction, travel and tourism and fire safety among a host of others.

The duration of these courses will range from 60 hours to 960 hours.

The participants will not be required to attend theory classes but will have to attend training workshops at the institute.

Currently, four government engineering colleges have been registered as Vocational Training Providers in the state — Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), Lucknow; Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Kanpur; Bundelkhand Institute of Engineering and Technology, Jhansi and Government Central Textile Institute, Kanpur.

According to an official, these institutes will begin the training programme from July.

“The SDIS began in 2007-08 but caught pace last year. Various ITIs, polytechnics and some employment exchange offices are already providing vocational training in these courses,” said Ajeet Singh, Senior Technical Officer, Training and Employment.   

“In the workshop, the participants will be trained in electronics, welding, carpentry and computers,” said Professor SK Srivastava, Director, Institute of Engineering and Technology, Lucknow.   

According to Srivastava, soon a meeting with the heads of various departments will be called to chalk out a plan to start the training. “We may identify candidates for training who are working as electricians and motor mechanics in our neighbourhood,” he said.

Under the scheme, vocational training providers will train the existing workers and school drop-outs who are above 14 years of age and studied till Class V.

After training, experts from industries associations like Confederation of Indian Industries, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Indian Society for Training and Development will assess the skills of the candidates.

If the candidate is declared qualified after the assessment, the Union Ministry of Labour will award a certificate to the concerned person, which will help them obtain a job.