The Government plans to open skill hubs across India to provide comprehensive vocational and skilling training to students, dropouts and also those seeking employment. Five thousand centres have been planned in the first phase, Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday. According to the Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Rajeev Chandrasekhar skill hubs are being set up using existing infrastructures of both the education system and the Skill India initiative.
The minister further said,”The whole objective of the skill hubs is to use the existing infrastructure of both the education system and the existing Skill India infrastructure and network to provide comprehensive skilling and vocational training programme to students, dropouts, and also to those who are seeking employment opportunities outside the education system in various skills.” However, the minister did not share the timeline for setting up the skill hubs.
Answering a query on whether women participation in the workforce has reduced, Chandrasekhar said, “It is not true that there has been any major disruption of women participation in the workforce leading up to Covid. He, however, asserted that depending on the job role and segment of the economy, women participation has increased significantly in many areas. For example, in IT and the technology space, women participation has exceeded 44-45%,” Chandrasekhar added.”
On the steps taken by the ministry to encourage incentives for skill development programmes for women especially in rural areas, Chandrasekhar said the Jan Shikshan Sansthan network is primarily aimed at skilling women in rural areas. In a statement laid on the table of the House, Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Dharmendra Pradhan said the ministry is delivering skill training through a comprehensive network of skill development centres under various schemes for the youth across the country, including those in the rural areas.
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