Vocational Training
Union Minister of Human Resoure Development Kapil Sibal has set up a core group, headed by Ashok Leyland Limited Managing Director R Seshasayee, to develop a curriculum for vocational courses in the automotive sector.
The other members of the group are Mr S S Mantha, Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Mr Ashok Thakur and Mr N K Sinha, Additional Secretaries in the Human Resource Development Ministry, and Mr Subhash Khuntia, Joint Secretary in the Ministry.
An official press release said the committee would submit its recommendations to the Ministry within three months and it would coopt other experts as and when required.
The decision to set up the group was taken at a Round Table on the development of a National Vocational Qualification Framework here on December 6 with representatives of the automotive sector.
The Minister will hold similar meetings with representatives of other sectors such as IT and Telecom, Entertainment, Hospitality, Construction, and Financial Services and Insurance later, the release said.
Mr Sibal said there was a clear need to give more attention to the creation of skills for the manufacturing sector.
He said that there was a need to build a framework which provided a system of certification for the selected choices and provided options for vertical mobility from school to university.
The minister underlined the need to develop a curriculum which is need-based and caters to the different aspects of the automobile industry. He called for active collaboration with the automobile industry to develop the curriculum for this qualification framework, as also for the support system for hands-on training, virtual training and software training. He pointed out that 39 million students pass out from class 12, of which only 1 million get an opportunity to be empowered through vocational education.
The representatives of the major automobile manufacturers who attended the meeting said there was an acute shortage of labor at Tier 2 and Tier 3. They said there was a need to evolve a strategy to compensate the shortage.
They said students had no motivation to opt for the vocational stream, and trainers as well as students needed to be incentivized for attracting them for the vocational stream.
According to them, the manpower produced at the vocational, polytechnic or at degree level lacks required core competence needed for the industry. The so-called skilled manpower is further required to be trained for 2-3 years to shape them as per industry requirement.
It is anticipated that by 2020, about 220 million students will pass out from school, out of which about 150 million will not enroll for college education. This young talent needs to be motivated for vocational education, they said.
In addition to the core skills of the automobile industry, there is a felt need of skilled drivers, mechanics and other skilled manpower for proper servicing of latest automobiles. There is a huge shortage of skilled manpower and no suitable framework available to cater to the needs of the services and sales sector in the automotive industry, the delegates pointed out.
They said the industry would come forward and collaborate with the institutions by providing the required hardware and suitable trainers to teach the aspirants of vocational stream.
NNN
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