A meeting was held to consult and discuss the skill training initiative programme developed by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) with all eight States of North East region in Guwahati. Addressing during the meeting, Dr. A. Didar Singh, Secretary MOIA emphasized that the Ministry’s initiative for the skill training in North East States draws inspiration from the announcement made by The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, during his inaugural address at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas-2011. The Prime Minister had made announcement for the setting up of a Centre of Excellence in North East Region for the skill training to facilitate overseas employment. Dr. Didar Singh said that the MOIA has worked with Indian Council for Overseas Employment (ICOE) and International Organization for Migration (IOM) to finalize the programme and implement the same in all the eight North East States.
The Pilot Project, targeted at eight states in North East of India, aims at the development of a standard framework for the skill up gradation of potential overseas migrants. The IOM has been identified to implement this prestigious Project and the Knowledge Partners include IndiaSkills and Aspire Human Capital Pvt. Ltd in Public Private Mode. Under the Project, seven international vocational qualifications will be developed with focus on short, relevant and effective modules that will help potential migrants in the overseas job markets. The Project will work on the basis of two models, in the form of franchise and university embedded model which will use standard training, testing and certification to increase the effectiveness of the proposed framework. This internationally recognized certification will ensure that trainees are employable anywhere in the world.
The project which is commissioned in the NE region will put systems, process and infrastructure in place for standardized training, testing and internationally acceptable certification to enhance the employability of the people of North East region of India and also in this process will figure out a nationwide roll out plan for building standard framework for imparting skill training for international job market. The State consultation meeting highlighted the Project’s concept & implementation, roles of various stakeholders and the support required from respective state governments. The objective of the consultation is to gain confidence of the state governments and develop a sense of ownership.
The meeting was attended by Shri Naba Kumar Das, Chief Secretary of Assam, Shri D.S. Poonia, Chief Secretary of Manipur, Shri G. Gurucharan, CEO of ICOE and senior officials of M/o Overseas Indian Affairs, senior representatives of Government of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura and the implementation agencies like IOM, Aspire Human Capital Pvt Ltd and India Skills.