Advisor Sharma e-inaugurates ESDM

Advisor Kewal Kumar Sharma e-inaugurating ESDM on Tuesday.
Advisor Kewal Kumar Sharma e-inaugurating ESDM on Tuesday.

*14000 youth to be trained in job-oriented IT courses in 2 yrs

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 1: Advisor to Governor, Kewal Kumar Sharma today stressed on introduction of IT courses intune with the market requirements to increase employability of youth.
The Advisor was speaking at a function organized by Department of Information Technology to e-inaugurate employment-linked Skill Development initiative – Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) programme here today. The participating Training Partners were connected through video conference during e-inauguration.
The scheme implemented by J&K e-Governance (JaKeGA) of the Information Technology Department is expected to promote ESDM ecosystem, which will help unemployed youth to attain skills in different NSQF (National Skill Qualification Framework) aligned courses.
Out of the 82 training partners offering the courses in J&K, the courses were launched in more than 35 Training Partners today.
Advisor interacted with various Training Partners over video-conference and also spoke to students undertaking the courses.
During the interaction, Advisor Sharma emphasized on the role of the training partners in tying up with local industries for providing employment to the successful candidates.
Advisor said the courses offered in the Information Technology (IT) sector should necessarily generate requisite employment and avenues for the youth which would ensure their economic emancipation. He further said that it will go a long way in proper channelization of the energies of major chunk of population and overcoming the problem of unemployment.
Speaking on the occasion, Secretary Information Technology, Saugat Biswas said the J&K e-Governance Agency (JaKeGA) which is the State Implementing Agency for the scheme had recently invited applications from desirous candidates for undergoing the training in 24 different courses with a target of training over 5,500 candidates in the current financial year and over 8,500 next fiscal.
The scheme will subsidize 100 percent course fee for SC, ST and EWS candidates and 75 percent for the rest, and will focus on students and unemployed youth at 8th-10th standard onwards, ITI, diploma, engineering graduates, non-engineering graduates, with the aim of increasing their employability to work in manufacturing and service support sectors.
Biswas said the Training Partners in J&K are affiliated with three Key Implementing Agencies (KIAs) viz National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT), Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC) & Electronic Sector Skill Council of India (ESSCI).
Advisor stressed on the Key Implementing Agencies to ensure placement of the certified candidates as mandated under the scheme. He also asked the Secretary, Information Technology to create a database and a tracking mechanism for tracking the employment graph of a trained and certified candidate.
Director, NIELIT, J&K, DS Oberoi; senior officers of the Information Technology Department, Project Management Team of the ESDM, Imran Sofi, various Training Partners of Jammu and Training Partners for all over the State through Video Conference attended the inaugural function.