Skills development school is the new killer app for some

At a time when acute talent shortage is staring India Inc in the eye, an increasing number of private players are entering tie ups with government units to narrow the skills divide.

Chennai-based Everonn Education has collaborated with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), which is a not-for-profit company under the Union Ministry of Finance, to set up an international skills school to provide vocational training that is customised to suit industry requirements across nine sectors.

IT major Wipro’s trust Mission 10x has also tied up with Nasscom to train engineers and build their employability quotient.

“Collaboration with authorities like NSDC is the need of the hour and there is a pressing requirement to reach out to as many people in the working age population as possible,” said P Kishore, MD, Everonn Education.

Wipro’s vice president -HR, Pratik Kumar said in a statement that the programme will provide equal opportunity to aspirants from various parts of India, who wish to join the IT sector.

Estimates by various private and government bodies state that every year about 12.8 million youth enter the job market in India. However, 93% of the workforce ends up in the unorganised sector, getting almost negligible scope for formal training.

“Therefore training our available manpower is crucial, both from government as well as an industry standpoint. We need to train people in specific areas so that they can deliver, rather than just providing theoretical knowledge,” said Dilip Chenoy, MD and CEO, NSDC.

The skills school by Everonn and NSDC will run courses of one to six months duration in textile & apparel, retail, hospitality, automobile, healthcare, construction, IT&ITeS, basic engineering, multimedia; and will train students in various industry requirements including store managers, carpenters, plumbers, welders, among other. The courses, which are designed in collaboration with the industry, will be open for anyone seeking particular kind of training including school drop-outs, with fees averaging Rs9,000 per student.

Jayaraman TV, CEO, Everonn Skill Development, a subsidiary of Everonn, said that students from economically-weaker sections will be helped with loans and industry sponsorships.

“Those who successfully complete the courses will be helped with job placements,” said Jayaraman.

The school aims at training about 15 million people in the next 12 years with an investment of Rs153.76 crore, which would be needed to set up 271 multi-skill development centres. This model will have a revenue generating potential of about  Rs14,250 crore over the next 12 years.

Of late, quite a few other private players have entered into alliances with various state governments to create talent pools.

NIS Sparta and Tally Solutions have joined hands with the Union Ministry of Rural Development for training youth from below poverty line families for free in various disciples and placing them with firms in retail, telecom, banking and financial services sectors as book keepers, cashiers, junior accountants, customer service executives, etc.

Anand Sudarshan, MD& CEO of Manipal Education said that the government is a significant source when it comes to skill development as a vast chunk of funding comes from the government.

Manipal is collaborating with the governments of Orissa, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka for training locals in various skills and helping in their placements.

Hari Menon, CEO, IndiaSkills, Manipal City &Guilds, which provides skill-based training, said there would be collaborations with the governments of Rajasthan, Punjab, and Gujarat in future for creating and placing a pool of talent.

“In most cases, the learners will not have to pay for the courses.”

Chenoy said that more such alliances are required to scale up the employability quotient in the country.

“The government’s overall target is to train 500 million people by 2022 to meet skills shortage and this can be gradually met only through joint collaborations between government and industry.”