In order to ensure employability of graduates in the State, the Meghalaya State Skill Development Society (MSSDS) through STEM under Skill Meghalaya will provide a one-time grant for capex and seed money of Rs 5 lakh to 12 colleges (one from each district) to introduce one short-term vocational course in their premises with a target to train at least 60 candidates per year for a period of five years.
The course is also open to youth from the State who are not enrolled in the particular college.
This scheme is open to government colleges, private colleges and private universities with at least five years standing at the time of applying for this scheme with not more than 1000 students enrolled per academic year.
Colleges and private universities should be willing to set up a training centre and provide free short-term vocational courses to minimum 60 persons per year for a period of five years.
The overall design of the skill development component along with the job role selected should be such that it leads to a comprehensive specialization in one or two domains. The specialisation chosen by the university or college should be based on the existing, forecasted skill gaps in the industry.
College should recruit faculty and also have existing faculty in the core trade being offered.
Under this scheme, a student can choose to gain competency-based skill learning along with general education in order to enhance the skills in the chosen field. These vocational courses will also allow students to explore new avenues available.
The introduction of vocational education at colleges will broaden the vocational education base and prepare university graduates for employment.
The financial allocation will be made by MSSDS within the overall ceiling of Rs 5 lakh under start-up assistance and seed money.
The one-time start-up assistance will be for setting up of laboratories, workshops facilities, procurement of teaching and learning materials, machineries/equipment and renovation. This will not include civil works.
The seed money is an assistance to meet the operational costs towards faculty, resource person costs to be reimbursed on actual basis within the total allocation for a period of one year. The rates for the faculty and resource persons shall be as prescribed by UGC for the Bachelor of Vocation programme.
For the existing faculty the rate is Rs 500 per lecture while for resource persons, the rate is Rs 2000 per lecture.
Of late, employability of graduates coming out of the State’s educational system is becoming a matter of great concern. It has also been observed over a period of time that the incidence of unemployment and underemployment among university graduates is increasing.
The over-supply of graduates, competition for the jobs earlier performed by less qualified persons grew. In particular, employment possibilities of graduates and postgraduates of general subjects are becoming increasingly limited. The kind of education offered also is not oriented to employment.
Most educational institutions are not equipped to visualise precisely, and provide for, training in required traits. Moreover, skill requirements of occupations change continually in response to technological changes.
Meghalaya is a young State with about 74 per cent of its population under the age of 35. It is essential that sufficient skill training is provided to this age group to make them productive.
Since the industrial and labour market trends clearly indicate the necessity of strengthening vocational education, vocational training is therefore the need of the hour to supplement formal education and improve the employability of the youth.
