Department of Skill Development today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Indian Institute of Management Jammu to embark on a journey of mentor-mentee relationship for skill revolution in J&K.In this regard, Principal Secretary, Skill Development, Dr. Asgar Hassan Samoon, and Director IIM Jammu, Dr. Sahai inked the memorandum on behalf of their respective departments and institutions.Director Skill Development J&K, officers of SDD and Professor Muqbil Burhan were also present on the occasion. The MoU read that IIM Jammu will handhold selected set of Polytechnics and ITIs across JKUT through mentor-mentee relationship. “Management training programs would be conducted for selected set of students from Polytechnics and ITIs that can potentially help them in better placements and understanding of skill development ecosystem,” added the Memorandum.The memorandum will also include Leadership development programs for the Principals of Polytechnics and ITIs, administrators working with SDDJK for quality leadership and improvement of work culture in the Departments, ITIs and Polytechnics.
To promote entrepreneurship and help them in creating link between skill development and Entrepreneurship, IIM will help the Skill Development department to facilitate setting up of Business incubators in selected ITIs/Polytechnics. Besides, the IIM will help ITIs and Polytechnics in developing competitive skills and increase industry interactions, memorandum reads.According to the memorandum, IIM Jammu would help SDDJK in capacity building through 1-2 weeks of training courses for mentoring trainers/faculty in the ITI and Polytechnics and train them in developing industry reports, newsletters and competitive spirit to develop their institutes.IIM Jammu would also offer consultancy services to the SDDJK and help in Tracer studies, District Skill Development Plans, implementation of government schemes, identify skill and training needs etc.To provide students an early exposure to competitive ecosystem and upgrade their capacity to compete with top institutions of the country, SDDJK would organize frequent visits of selected group of students of ITIs and Polytechnics to the IIM Jammu campuses and facilitate their participation in Leadership Summits, Competitions, Hackathons etc.
Also, IIM Jammu faculty will visit various ITIs and Polytechnics under SDDJK with necessary logistic and facilitation support from the department to motivate the administration of these institutes towards a positive change and encourage the staff. IIM Jammu will regularly share the information about skill development related programs started by IIM Jammu and its partner institutes with SDD so that its students/faculty can enroll and benefit from them. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Samoon said that the government is committed to support introduction of skill-based quality education in order to provide the community particularly youth with need based, technical and professional education as part of the Skill Development Programme.“Skill development is the need of the hour, the MoU will be the defining element in J&K’s growth story. Government alone cannot accomplish this task, but concerted efforts of government, private players, IIMs and IITs will collectively bring skill revolution in J&K,” he added.