Ongole: Youth told to acquire professional skills

Ongole(Prakasam district): Youth, who didn’t have practical knowledge, are facing issues during recruitment, observed Prakasam district Collector AS Dinesh Kumar and advised the youth to change their mindset and understand the need to get trained on professional skills.

He inaugurated 7th National Apprenticeship Awareness workshop, organised by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India, in Ongole on Wednesday.

Speaking as the chief guest at the programme, the Collector said that though there are vacancies in industries, the unemployed are unable to get them as they are unskilled. He asked the officials to provide apprenticeships to ITI and polytechnic completed students to make them ready for jobs. He said about 4,000 students from ITIs and another 6,000 students from polytechnic are completing their course every year, but they are unable to get jobs as expected. He instructed the officials to provide apprenticeships to the technical students when they are in the college and create awareness among them on it.

The district officials were further directed to prepare a report on the type of vacancies in the industries in the district and the interests of students as well. He said the industries with a minimum of 30 people working in them, should offer apprenticeships, and ordered the officials to conduct similar workshops every year.

Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Deputy Director P Chandramouli said the State and Union governments are working towards skill development among the youth. He requested the district administration to help the unemployed youth to utilise the opportunities provided by the government and asked the industries in the district to provide apprenticeships.

District industries department manager Madhusudan Reddy, APIIC ZM J Venkateswarlu, district employment officer T Bharadhwaj, Govt ITI College principal M Nageswara Rao, and others also participated in the programme.