National Apprenticeship awareness workshop held at Udhampur

DC bats for creating huge market driven skilled workforce

UDHAMPUR, May 23: To promote apprenticeship training and create awareness among youth/Establishments about Apprenticeship scheme, the regional Directorate of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, J&K, Ladakh, H.P, in collaboration with Directorate of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship J&K organised a daylong National Apprenticeship Awareness workshop here in the Conference Hall DC Office Complex.

Deputy Commissioner, Sachin Kumar Vaishya was the chief guest on the occasion.  Regional Director/Regional Central Apprenticeship Advisor, J&K & Ladakh, S. Santhimanalan; Director/ Apprenticeship, Union Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, SSP Udhampur, Dr. Vinod Kumar; ADDC, Ghan Sham Singh; ADC, Joginder Singh Jasrotia; GM DIC Pankaj Kumar Anand; Superintendent ITI Udhampur Ravinder Singh Bhatti; Principal Govt. polytechnic College Ritu Jamwal; MGN fellow Prashant Gupta and other delegates, besides the representatives of local Industries & ITI and polytechnic students attended the National Apprenticeship Awareness Workshop.

Addressing the Workshop, the Deputy Commissioner said that such workshops are aimed to create awareness amongst establishments on training and benefits under National Apprentice Promotion Scheme (NAPS).

The DC hailed the organizers for conducting the workshop in Udhampur District and stressed holding more such orientation programs to encourage skilling and to meet the demand of qualified workforce for the industries.

Emphasizing on the need to have a skilled workforce, the DC also highlighted the current market conditions which require the workforce to get market relevant skills. He also emphasised about the fact that India is experiencing Demographic Dividend and to reap the full benefit of this advantage ‘we need to skill our workforce with the market driven skillsets’. DC also emphasised that the present era is the age of Information technology and IT related interventions must be incorporated and adapted in Skill Development training in ITIs and Polytechnics so the trainees/Alumni become job creators rather than job seekers. He stressed that Apprenticeship programs need to be remodelled to meet the needs of the time and skills, rather than just having Degrees, will ensure quality workforce for the same.

The DC emphasised on youth to update and upgrade themselves with knowledge base and acquire modern skill sets coupled with present market technological trends. He said that after the IT revolution, a global scenario has emerged in which skilled human resources are necessary to meet the day-to-day market requirements and youth must adopt an enhanced skill set to take benefits of the current market situations.

The DC also urged upon the youth to actively join Apprenticeship programs which will help them to gain knowledge and tools needed on ground and will ensure Industries will have trained workforce. He assured continuous support and monitoring to make it a success.

In his concluding remarks, the DC congratulated the Regional Director and the team for their efforts in promoting the Apprenticeship Awareness Programme.

The DC also made a mention of the Prime Minister’s focus on skill development programmes and said that his motivation is guiding the Nation to promote youth engagement in skill development training in an effective and efficient manner.