Skill development: Study under way to assess demand, aspirations

The report on the Skill Gap Study by Pricewaterhouse Cooper (PwC), which took off in January, is expected to be submitted by April end or May, the official added.

According to V Vishnu, the executive director of TNSDC, discussions would be held with industries at each of the 32 districts. “At each district, the consultant would map all the industries there and assess what is their demand. This will be the road map for us to proceed,” he said.

In addition, Vishnu added, they would also do a random sampling of youngsters from various age groups – especially the younger ones. “It is important to assess aspirations of the youngsters at the school level. It is not going to help us much to try and understand what a 30-year-old aspires for. It is more important to know about those from secondary school or a college student,” he said.

This sampling would number only in few hundreds, but even that would be helpful considering the huge asymmetry in actual aspirations and understanding, the official pointed out. “Statistically it is a small sample but we will start off with that. It would be a small but quick study because what we need right now is hard data.”

Five Apex Skill Development Centres is another idea that is taking shape at the Corporation. The sectors identified are construction and infrastructure, automobiles, manufacturing and capital goods, transportation and logistics and hospital and healthcare. These would have direct and active participation from the industry, with members from the private sector being made the managing director and also occupying board positions at each of these centres.

Among the other projects that are on the anvil are setting up a skill registry, which would enable the stakeholders – both industry and the government understand the availability of workforce and their expertise. A request for proposal has been floated for getting a web portal ready.