Govt: Skill hubs to be set up across India, 5,000 panned in 1st phase
New Delhi: The government plans to set up skill hubs across India to provide comprehensive skilling and vocational training to students, dropouts and also those seeking employment, with 5,000 such centres planned in the first phase, Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour, Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the skill hubs are being set up using existing infrastructures of both the education system and the Skill India initiative.
"The skill hubs are going to be 5,000 in the first phase and we expect skill hub to be present in almost every part of India, as conglomeration of both education and skilling network," he said in reply to a question by BJP's Vijay Pal Singh Tomar who wanted to know the purpose and coverage of the skill hub initiative.
The minister further said,"The whole objective of the skill hubs is to use the existing infrastructure of both the education system and the existing Skill India infrastructure and network to provide comprehensive skilling and vocational training programme to students, dropouts, and also to those who are seeking employment opportunities outside the education system in various skills." He, however, did not share the timeline for setting up the skill hubs.
Replying to a query by V Vijayasai Reddy of the YSRCP on whether women participation in workforce has reduced, he said, "It is not true that there has been any major disruption of women participation in the workforce leading up to Covid.
"During Covid, there has been significant disruptions in the overall workforce and it is very likely that women participation in the workforce was also impacted." He, however, asserted that depending on the job role and segment of the economy, women participation has increased significantly in many areas. "For example, in IT and the technology space, women participation has exceeded 44-45 per cent," Chandrasekhar added.
On the steps taken by the ministry to encourage incentives for skill development programmes for women specially in rural areas, he said, "The Jan Shikshan Sansthan network is primarily aimed at skilling women in rural areas and is doing a very good job."
