In a major initiative to empower the youth with skills and livelihood, Punjab Government has set up 5 Multi Skill development Centres (MSDCs) at Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Bathinda and 3 Health Sector Skill Development Centres (HSDCs) at Patiala, Amritsar and Faridkot, which have capacity to train 12000-15000 students annually.Disclosing this here today Spokesperson of the Punjab Government said that Punjab Deputy Chief Minister and Mr Rajiv Partap Rudy Union Minister of State Skill Development and Entrepreneurship will inaugurate NanhiChhaa Skill Centre at Village Salani, Dist. Fatehgarh Sahib, Rural Skill Centre at Village GehriMandi, Dist. Amritsar, Multi Skill Development Centre, Ludhiana and Multi Skill Development Centre, Amritsar on November 13.Spokesperson said that these centres have been set up in the premises of ITIs/Industrial Estates /Medical Colleges to provide conducive environment for skill training. He said that each centre has 20,000 to 30,000 sq. ft. built up area for the institute along with hostel for boys and girls. The state-of-the-art infrastructure will ensure quality training and will inspire youth to take up skill training program. National level reputed training partners have been selected namely M/s IL&FS Skills, M/s Gram Tarang, M/s AVTEG, M/s Yashaswi, M/s Vidyanta and M/s MIHER to operate and manage these centres on PPP mode for 10 years.
The Multi Skill Development Centres will provide training in various trades such as Apparel, electrical, automotive & engineering, telecom, banking & financial services, healthcare, transport logistics and warehousing, hospitality, food processing and retail.The Health Sector Skill Development Centres will provide training in various trades such as General Duty assistant, Home Health aide, Dental Assistant, Emergency Medical Technician, vision technician, diabetes educator and dietician assistant.Spokesperson further said that Punjab Government has also taken a unique initiative of setting up of 200 Rural Skill Centres to provide skill training at the door steps of rural youth. These Rural Skill Centres are located in the premises of government high/senior secondary schools across the State with at least one Rural Skill Centres in each Block.He further said that the skill training in these rural centres will be provided by reputed skill training partners free of cost under various Centre/State Government skill development schemes. Various schemes for promotion of entrepreneurship and self-employment will also be implemented through these Rural Skill Centres. These centres will provide training in various trades such as apparel & textile, beauty & wellness, mobile, retail, electronics &hardware, Construction, IT/ITeS, logistics and financial services. These Rural Skill Centres would impart training to some 40,000 youth every year.
Spokesperson said that 25 out of 200 Rural Skill Centres have been dedicated for skill training of rural girls to be called Nanhi Chhaan Skill Centres. The main focus of these centres would be to empower them with self-employment opportunities. The training partner has tied-up with industry leaders namely Jawed Habib for beauty and wellness courses and Usha International for garment making and sewing courses. Entrepreneurship kit for both the trades will be provided free of cost so that beneficiaries would be able to start working their own ventures.Apart from Government created infrastructure, the empanelled training partners have also set up 35 skill centres at various district headquarters and sub-division headquarters in the State. These centres provide skill training to urban and rural youth under various skill training schemes of centre and state government. These Centres would have capacity to train some 35,000 youth every year.