" India is yet to fully harvest its demographic dividend. Bringing out the skill and talent has been a challenge due to our academic system. Several attempts have been made in this past to address this problem but the results continue to be discouraging. Therefore the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship headed by the Honorable Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan has come up with a novel method. This system will focus on field activity and will not rely on the labs found within the campuses of educational institutions.
" India is yet to fully harvest its demographic dividend. Bringing out the skill and talent has been a challenge due to our academic system. Several attempts have been made in this past to address this problem but the results continue to be discouraging. Therefore the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship headed by the Honorable Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan has come up with a novel method. This system will focus on field activity and will not rely on the labs found within the campuses of educational institutions.
Earlier such programs were given huge grants by the Government and it did not work out effectively. Institutions used the existing labs and nothing came out of it. Finally the ministry had to take this step in order to ensure that the graduates are industry ready from day one, " stated Prof.S.Ganesan - Head : Education Initiative - Logistics Sector Skill Council. The Chairman of the Council is R.Dinesh ( Chairman & Managing Director - TVS Logistics Services Limited ) and the CEO happens to be T.S.Ramanujam while A.M.Naik ( Larsen & Toubro - Group Chairman ) is the Chairman of the National Skill Development Corporation.
The Skill Embedded Degree Program is operated by the Logistics Sector Skill Council ( LSC ). There are about 34 Skill Councils and now 4 of them have been given the mandate to create purposeful programs. The 4 sectors are logistics, retail, media and electronics. Prof S.Ganesan has incubated a number of business schools in the Coimbatore region and he is a member of the High Power Committee on Skilling in Higher Education. He represents the LSC on this committee. 21 institutions have thus far signed up with LSC and 4 are from Tamilnadu - Hindustan University, Annamalai University, PSG ( Coimbatore ) and Sri Krishna ( Coimbatore ).
" The students will get KSA ( Knowledge, Degree, Attitude ) through this approach. They will spend the odd semesters ( 5 months ) in the college to study theory and the even semester ( 6 months ) will be with a company. The companies will have to accept the apprentices in accordance with the Apprenticeship Act. Companies with a strength of over 40 employees will have to absorb between 2.5 and 10 percent of their strength as apprentices. The apprentices will be paid 70 % of the standard salary. 25 % of the cost will be borne by the Government. The concerned portal will trap the information in order to ensure that the process is done properly. This will help the students to learn about work in the place of work itself plus earn money along with life skills. The 3 placements during the program and the 4th placement ( job ) will be done by LSC.
Placement Officers of the institutions will not be drawn into this exercise. Allied on line courses are a must during the even semester and the practical exams will have to be done from the place of work. The ' Practical ' aspect is learnt at the place of and not a ' Lab '. Thanks to this kind of a program, the institutions can start one more batch during for the calendar year. This goes a long way in improving productivity and is good for our country. The programs will commence in the following academic year and 50 students per institution will join. Once the calendar year program starts the strength will go up to 1500 for half the institutions will be joining the fray ( calendar year part ), " added Prof.S.Ganesan.
The curriculum development and improvement will be done by the Logistics Sector Skill Council. They will come up with all the inputs and the colleges will not be responsible for this part of the activity. Theory will take up 40 % and the Practical Portion will take up the rest of the marks ( 60 % ).
A teacher training program is on the anvil. PSG College of Arts and Science will be the teacher training center for this year. The LSC has 12 sub sectors and each sector will be represented by 10 members from the industry. Therefore 120 companies are in the Logistics Sector Skill Council ( LSC ). The National Skill Development Corporation will be the funding agency.
Prof.S.Ganesan was eager to share some more information , " The Logistics Sector Skill Council will find the jobs for the students. Its a win win situation for all the three - the industry, the colleges and the students. The Logistics sector has taken the lead in this program. The gains are enormous for the companies absorbing apprentices for their cost will be lower. They will save on the cost of training. ESI and PF costs are avoided through this exercise for the apprentices are not employees. The program will be called BBA ( Logistics ) in Tamilnadu. Since the program is monitored, funds cannot be misused.
The logistics sector transaction costs are lesser by 10% in developed countries when compared to India. This initiative will hopefully help the sector in India to become extremely competitive. If the logistics industry has to grow in India, the Government has to give it an opportunity to do so. Now, the Government is ready to let them grow by hand holding them through this ' Skill Embedded Degree Program '. The Principal Secretary ( Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship ) K.P.Krishnan., IAS is very keen to offer the best from the Government. This initiative is sure to propel itself into a big one over the next few years. "
The success of the program will create a number of industry ready employees and entrepreneurs from day one. Empowerment of the younger generation by skilling them is the need of the hour.