By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: Since its establishment in 2011, the Skill Development and Technical Education Department has achieved remarkable milestones, demonstrating its commitment to empowering the youth of Odisha. The last 4 years has seen transformation in both enhancing access to Skilling and improving quality of skilling through various initiatives.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday reviewed the achievements of the Skill Development and Technical Education Department during the last 4 years in the 3rd Floor Conference Hall of Lokaseva Bhawan. Minister Pritiranjan Ghadei and Principal Secretary Usha Padhee presented detailed information about the outcome and success of the department in the review meeting.
In the last 4 years, the department has prioritized the expansion and upgradation of infrastructure in skilling institutions. Today the State boasts of a robust network of 60 Govt ITIs with an annual intake of 20,000 candidates, 34 Govt polytechnics, 82 Skill Development Centres, 2 Management Institutes, 5 Engineering Colleges and 3 Technical Universities committed to skill the youth of the State and the foundation of Skilled-in-Odisha.
The Budget of the Department has also seen an increase from Rs. 719.00 crore in 2019-20 to Rs. 811.00 crore in 2022-23. In the FY 2023-24 the budget has seen a further fillip with an allocation of Rs. 986.25 crore an increase of over 21%. This additional fiscal allocation will give a thrust to skilling in the State.
The Sudakshya scheme, launched to improve girls’ enrolment in ITIs, has been incredibly successful, increasing the percentage from 6% in 2016-17 to an impressive 22.5% in 2022-23.
Building on this success, the department has decided to enrol girl students in Sudakshya who are interested in pursuing polytechnic education. Recognizing the critical need for offering residential facilities, hostels have already been provided in 49 Govt ITIs and 33 Government Polytechnics while construction is in progress in the remaining ones.
The year 2021, was a landmark year in the skill development journey with the inauguration of the World Skill Centre (WSC) by the Hon’ble Chief Minister. WSC, a mega finishing school for our ITI and Polytechnic students offers ITEES Skill qualification (ISQ), an internationally recognized certification, enabling students to secure placements in countries such as the UAE and participate in internship programs in Singapore. WSC has also become a centre for capacity building of our Trainers, provide life-skill training to students, conduct domain specific leadership training, and enter into partnerships with globally renowned institutions.
To promote industry-oriented skilling more than 16 Centres of Excellence have been established in technical universities, ITIs in areas such as healthcare, data analytics, computing, renewable energy, and electric vehicles. During the Odisha Skill Conclave 2023, more than 24 MoUs were exchanged with renowned organizations including ITE Education Services, Singapore; Schneider Electric Foundation; Philips Machine Tools; Mitutoyo South Asia; Drone Federation of India; Festo; Coursera, and ISB, etc. reaffirming Skilled-in-Odisha as a recognized brand.
Recognizing the importance of technology-driven skilling, the department has introduced new-age trades in ITIs, including Internet of Things, Drone Technician, Drone Pilot, Smart Agriculture, Mechatronics, and Smart City Solar Technician. To promote digital skilling among students and faculty members of ITIs, polytechnics, and engineering colleges, partnerships with reputed industries have facilitated the training of over 30,000 students and 300+ faculty members.
To further give fillip to skilling in future skills and new-age courses, Nutana Unnata Abhilasha (NUA) Odisha scheme was announced in the Budget 2023-23 with an allocation of Rs.100 crores. This scheme aims to provide skill training to one lakh youth in emerging technologies such as Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality-Virtual Reality, Data Science, and 3D printing.
