State plans skill development training for 8 lakh students in 2019

Vijayawada: Minister for Sports, Skill Development, Law and Justice Kollu Ravindra said on Saturday that the State government has set the target of providing skill development programmes to 8 lakh students in 2019 and trying to transform the State into knowledge and skill development hub. He said the skill development programmeswere  extended to 6.50 lakh students in the state in 2018 and  the state government had identified 20 sectors to impart special training to the youth which will help them to get jobs. 

Addressing media conference here on Saturday, Minister Ravindra said AP ranked top as per the India Skills 2019 Report in employability. He said India Skill Report was prepared jointly by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Wheelbox and PeopleStrong with the support of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Association of Indian Universities (AIU). He said the State government is trying itsbest to improve skills of the students by conducting various programmes. He said the efforts made by the State government in creation of jobs are giving fruitful results as the state ranked first in the country in employability. 

Ravindra said special training classes are conducted in subjects like IT and soft skills in 391degree colleges and 274 engineering colleges in the State. Special emphasis is being given to improve the communication skills and soft skills among youth. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has been trying to transform the state into IT and knowledge hub, he said. He said the State government has identified 20 sectors as priority sectors and trying to create jobs. Sectors like Automobile, IT, pharmaceuticals, logistics, health, energy, aqua culture, food processing and others were identified. He felt youth can get more job opportunities in banking and finance sectors with the implementation of GST.He said 40,000 youth got jobs due to increasing services of companies like Amazon in the state.