VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed the officials to commence the works of Skill Development Colleges (SDCs) at the earliest.With an objective to provide human resources to the industry sector by imparting skill development training to youth as per the industry requirements, the State government has decided to set up as many as 30 SDCs ensuring at least one in all the 25 Parliamentary constituencies.
Taking stock of the steps being taken for establishing the SDCs during a review with Industries, Commerce and Skill Development Minister Mekapati Goutham Reddy and the officials of Skill Development department on Tuesday, the CM directed them to sit with the officials of the Finance department and prepare a plan for construction of buildings.
Stating that the SDCs will play an important role in providing skilled workforce and development of industry, he wanted the officials to ensure quality in construction works.The officials informed that they have identified the land for setting up SDCs at 20 places and scouting for land for setting up the remaining colleges, while the curriculum has been prepared dividing it into finishing skills and alternative employment courses. They also said that out of the total 162 courses, 127 are for finishing skills, while the remaining 35 are for alternative employment.
With regard to developing and designing the skill development curriculum, so far, four international institutes — Singapore Polytechnic, Van Hall Larenstein (University of Applied Studies), GIZ and Department for International Development — have been partnered with the State government. For setting up of lab infrastructure in skill centres, 23 reputed organisations including Dell, Tata, HP, IBM and Biocon have come forward for signing MoUs with the government and discussions are on with 35 other companies.
The Chief Minister said that there should be a continuous chain linking the skill development centres with the companies. The training should be imparted as per the industry requirements, he pointed out. He directed the officials to speed up identification of suitable lands for the construction of SDCs and also ordered to include technical courses related to agriculture in it. Special Chief Secretary G Anantharamu, APSSDC Managing Director Arja Srikanth, APSSDC Chairman Ch Madhusudhan Reddy and other officials were present.