VIJAYAWADA: With an objective to make Andhra Pradesh a ‘skill development’ hub and impart training for youth to make them better employable, the YSRC government has decided to set up 30 Skill Development Centres in the State and a centralised monitoring system for those SDCs. The decision was taken during Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s review meeting on IT and skill development programmes in the State on Monday. It was also decided to set up a high-end skill centre for information technology in Visakhapatnam. With a financial closure of 45 days, construction of all these SDCs will be completed within a year.
The Chief Minister directed officials to set up one SDC each in every Parliamentary constituency in the State, which has 25 segments. Four centres will be set up in collaboration with the four IIITs and one centre will be attached to Pulivendula JNTU. After witnessing the performance of these centres, the future expansion plans will be made.
The proposed high-end skill development centre in Visakhapatnam is aimed at fostering the IT sector. Such centres will be established in Central Andhra and Rayalaseema regions later. A committee will be set up for taking skill development forward in the State with IT and Industries Minister Mekapati Goutham Reddy as its chairman and officials from the Higher Education Council and IT department as its members.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister underlined the need of setting up a centralised administrative block first for supervising the skill development centres and preparing a curriculum. The course material will be updated from time to time. He wanted the provision of admission to meritorious engineering students in the centres.
Jagan also made it clear that such skill development centres should enable students to compete with their counterparts in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai. He said a plan of action should be prepared to make the dream a reality to give a fillip to the industrial sector in the State. Minister for Industries Goutham Reddy, Skill Development Corporation Chairman Challa Madhu and Skill Development Special Chief Secretary Ananta Ramu were present.