By Nitasha Chawla
The National Skill Development Council (NSDC) has recently approved the proposal to set up an Electronics Sector Skills Council (ESSC) for the IT/ITES, electronics, IT hardware and manufacturing sectors. ESSC will include members from the India Semiconductor Association (ISA), Electronic Industries Association of India (ELCINA), Manufacturers Association of Information Technology (MAIT), Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA), Indian Printed Circuit Association (IPCA), NSDC (National Skill Development Corporation), and Ministry of Communications and IT.
In a workshop organised by the Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY) on April 26, 2012, the role of ESSC was discussed by the various associations involved in setting it up.
Role of ESSC
The main aim of ESSC would be to focus on developing industry relevant curriculum to enhance the employability of the workforce, and thereby reduce the time and resources spent by the industry on in-house training. “Under ESSC training programme, the delivery of the courses and skills enhancement programmes is envisaged as a combination of both course work and lab work in order to make them effective, and would comprise instructor led training, video based learning, simulation exercises, shop floor exposure, etc. In addition, short duration internships in companies, wherever required, would also be planned in order to provide industry exposure and enhance employability skills,” says Prerit Rana, consultant (HRD and capacity building), PMU-ESDM, DeitY.
ESSC would also be engaged in ‘Train the trainer’ programmes, which would help in developing a large pool of qualified training faculty to impart skills development to a large workforce. Workshops would be organised on a periodic basis to upgrade the knowledge of the trainers.
Operational procedures of ESSC
These Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) will be set up by the respective industries/associations as not for profit organisations with the objective of standardising curriculum, streamlining the certification framework, accreditation of sector specific and related courses, and developing training delivery mechanisms.
ESSC will undertake pilot projects in the first year and focus on creating skill competency standards and qualifications. It is proposed that 5000-6000 people will be trained and certified during the pilot phase. The duration of the pilot phase will be 12-18 months. The council will later scale up its operations and cumulatively, a workforce of about 2 million is expected to have the necessary skills imparted to them and even get certified by the year 2020.
The council will train the workforce in production work, service support, design and R&D.
“ESSC will engage with partners to develop occupational standards and curriculum for certain jobs. The training partners selected by ESSC will provide the skills development programme. ESSC may engage with a number of such training partners, as the occupations are varied. The certification of the workforce post training will be carried out by ESSC,” adds Prerit Rana.
