KOCHI: Former finance minister Dr T M Thomas Isaac was recently named advisor of the ‘Vijnana Keralam’ (Knowledge Kerala) project, which the Left government considers its third big initiative after the Land Reforms of 1964 and the People’s Campaign for Decentralised Planning of 1996, both of which brought in transformational change in the state. TNIE spoke to Isaac about the project. Excerpts:
What’s the idea behind ‘Vijnana Keralam’?
Our biggest challenge has been the inability to create jobs commensurate with the educational qualifications of our youth. This does not mean we are not creating jobs. Around 30 lakh people from other states have come here for work. But our youth are not interested in the employment they are engaged in. The project will delve into the process of creating jobs for our educated youth.
Can you elaborate?
We need to understand that the foundations of our financial sector will be based on the most-productive and most modern technologies. Existing and future industries will become more knowledge-intensive, which will pave the way for a knowledge-based economy. The state government is taking three steps to prepare for this.
First, we are improving our infrastructure, with the involvement of Kiifb (Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board). Second, we are prepping our higher-education sector for the knowledge economy. We have invested `6,000 crore in improving infrastructure in the higher-education sector over the last eight years. This includes funding from Kiifb and the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA).
And there’s a third component, where we need to skill people based on job opportunities. Our challenge is to make them more employable. This is the Vijnana Keralam Janakiya Campaign, the Knowledge Kerala People’s Campaign.
How do you plan to implement the project?
The project will take two tracks. It will be rolled out in a full-fledged manner from August. We will guide postgraduate, undergraduate and diploma students into a skill-development programme that will ensure near-100% job placement. We expect 5 lakh students to emerge from this programme. This will also include students of ITIs (industrial training institutes), polytechnics, and those from arts and science colleges.
We are starting a pilot by the end of this month. Nearly 25,000 students from selected colleges in the state will undergo three-month-long skilling courses. We have taken upon ourselves to ensure that they get offer letters before completing their exams.
Will this be a paid programme?
No. The courses will be mostly online, and students won’t have to pay any fees. The state government has purchased courses. It will also hold discussions with edutech companies to design more courses. But, we need people to handhold them: teachers, mentors who can take offline classes.
The most important segment is the community that has emerged from our colleges in the last 15-20 years, and are employed in India or abroad, besides those who teach in colleges and universities or are in other professional jobs. They will be asked to handhold students from their almae matres. We hope to mobilise around 50,000 mentors.
Will our youths be trained for jobs in other states and abroad as well?
Why not? Let’s say there’s an opportunity for 300 people in welding jobs for Qatari firms. But the kind of welding skills required is not what our youngsters possess. We assure the companies that we will upskill 300 people for the jobs. We will also carry out background checks of the companies involved.
Do you expect this to be the next big game changer from the Left government, after land reforms and the People’s Plan campaign?
That’s exactly what it is. The People’s Plan campaign brought about a big transformation. Our traditional strengths are in the social and small-scale production sectors, involving rural assets. That will continue. Our current system is not enough to usher in the knowledge economy, and the programme is designed to do just that.
What are the plans for the skilling programme?
We will focus on skilling our youth with the ‘Kerala Skilling’ programme. Most of the participating mentors and resource persons will be from international and national universities. It will be a multi-venue programme. In Kerala, events will be held simultaneously in three centres. They will be live streamed. I’m expecting more than 1 lakh people to participate.
Will the project come under the local self government department?
Local government is in charge of track two of the project, which is organising job fairs, mobilisation of unemployed personnel, etc. The government has issued a detailed order, and work has commenced. The higher education and labour departments will issue the order on the skilling programme, which is track one. We will also be working closely with the industries and agriculture departments.
