UKWDP

About

India faces an enormous challenge of paucity of highly trained workforce and non-employability of the large youth population, who come out of education and training systems. To take on this paradoxical situation, Government of India launched the National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship in 2015 and in the 12th Five Year Plan, the Government of India (GOI) set a goal to train 400 million workers by 2022.

As per the 5th employment / unemployment survey (2015-16), the statistics for employment / unemployment in Uttarakhand is alarming. While the labour force participation rate (per 1000) in Uttarakhand is 459 (national average 503), the worker population ratio for Uttarakhand is 427 (way below the national average of 478). The challenge of mass migration from the villages in the hills is only worsening the already complicated situation.

To address these challenges of unemployment in the state, Government of Uttarakhand (GoUK) is implementing the Uttarakhand Workforce Development Project (UKWDP) with support from the World Bank, which aims to improve the quality and relevance of skills training and increase the number of skilled workers in Uttarakhand. Through these focused interventions, the state aims to create 80,500 skilled workers in the next 5 years (30,500 to be skilled through interventions in select ITIs and 50,000 candidates to be trained in industry relevant courses through short-term training interventions).

PROJECT BACKGROUND:

The development of the skills and training sector in terms of access, quality, and relevance is one of the country’s top priorities and the Government of Uttarakhand (GoUK) is equally committed to these goals. The GoUK considers ITIs and short-term training programs as the main vehicles for the advancement of skills development. The ITI subsector faces several systemically rooted challenges resulting in suboptimal quality and efficiency. The quality and relevance of the training is generally low because of the continued reliance on traditional theory-oriented training practices and poor human resource management. Linkages between ITIs and industries are overall weak, but there is scope to improve them by setting up an institutional framework for partnerships with industries. The short-term training subsector is characterized by a complex landscape and varying quality standards. Numerous disconnects in the skills ecosystem have resulted in weak consolidation of efforts and coordination among stakeholders.

To address the present challenges in the skill ecosystem of Uttarakhand, Uttarakhand Workforce Development Project (UKWDP) was launched. The three components of the project are:

Component No. 1: Improving the Quality and Relevance of ITI Training

Component No. 2: Increasing the number of Skilled Workers through Short-term Training

Component No. 3: Policy and Institutional Development and Project Management.

24 state industrial training institutes have been identified under the Uttarakhand Workforce Development Project and the scheme has been approved by the World Bank / Government of India. The project will focus on the training of instructors and all personnel, the use of basic facilities to the maximum potential, the planning of the trainees after coordination with the industries, and strengthening the trades as per the requirement of the industries. Important points also have been included for increasing effectiveness, setting skill policy, and taking action accordingly. The Earnst & Young firm has been ordered to formulate an effective action plan for each of the covered institutions first. Simultaneously, the firm has been ordered to create an elaborate framework for the training of all personnel.