The central government on Monday called upon all stakeholders in the civil aviation sector to urgently address the shortage of skilled manpower.According to Civil Aviation Minister P.Ashok Gajapathi Raju, there exists a tremendous mismatch between the type of skills presently available to the sector and the ones that are required.Further, Raju asked all stakeholders to work out ways for skill development -- taking into account the requirements and employment opportunities available in all the sub-segments of the sector.
The minister spoke after inaugurating a workshop on skills development in the sector. The workshop on 'Skill Gap Analysis' and 'Roadmap for Skill Development in the Civil Aviation Sector' was organised here.The workshop was based on the skill gap analysis of the sector which was conducted by ICRA Management Consultancy Services (IMaCS), at the behest of the Ministry of Civil Aviation. In addition, the consultancy firm formulated a future road map for skill development in the sector. The ministry elaborated that the objective of Monday's workshop was to discuss the recommendations of the draft report which was submitted by IMaCS.
The report identified possible skill requirements across aviation segments like airports, airlines, MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul), cargo and ground handling. "It has recommended building a robust training and skill building ecosystem through institutional strengthening, infrastructure and capacity planning, training process re-engineering, strengthening funding mechanism and monitoring and evaluation," the ministry said in a statement. Besides, the report recommended setting up of a 'National Civil Aviation Training Authority' and 'Cargo and Ground Handling Sector Skill Council'.