Vocational Training (NCVT) and the National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) are to be merged with the aim of improving the results of the Skill India Mission. National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET) is what the merged body will be called. The approval for the merger was given by the Union Cabinet.
This new merged regulating body will ensure accountability in the skill training sector, which serves almost 15 million students.
Terming this an ‘institutional reform’, the Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, explained that the move will make the sector more credible and attract bigger private investments.
Earlier, the skill education sector, with its over 13000 industrial training institutions was regulated and assessed by the NCVT, which was established almost 40 years ago. The NSDA, on the other hand was established in 2013, and was the body that formulated policies for the Skill Development Ministry, and helped to bring about programmes and policies for training and industry collaboration for the Skill India Mission.
The NCVT will control the functioning of entities involved in long-term and short-term vocational education and training. It will also set the minimum standards for the functioning of these entities.
According to the Skill Development Ministry, the main functions of NCVT will include recognition and regulation, assessment, approval of qualifications developed by different bodies and industry-governed sector skill councils.
With innumerable skill schools having emerged all over India, it has been quite a challenge to control the quality in the skill-development sector in India. Although Skill India has been a talking point for the Government over the last couple of years, it has not been assessed or monitored for quality, which is actually very important if appropriate manpower is to be made available to industries.
Two new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) have also been sanctioned by the Cabinet, to come up at Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) and Berhampur (Odisha) at a total cost of Rs 3,074.12 crore.
