Nellore to have two skill colleges

Nellore: Nellore is going to have two skill colleges, which will be among the 30 planned in the state. On the basis of Nellore and Tirupati Lok Sabha constituencies, the two colleges will be set up in Nellore and Venkatagiri. It may be recalled that the state government had announced that CM Centres of Skill Excellence/Multi Skill Development Centres will be set up one each in all 25 Lok Sabha constituencies apart from four colleges in places where IIITs are located and one at JNTU Pulivendula in Kadapa district.

Officials say that the cooperation between educational institutions and the industry is a key ingredient to enhance competency, knowledge and attitude of the learners. Matching technical and vocational education programmes with the industry as per models adopted in Germany, the UK, Australia, the USA, and many other countries is considered essential during the current scenario.

For achieving the goal, the state government is adopting a convergence approach with all stakeholder departments, industry and the civil society bringing all skill development activities in the state under skill development and training (SD&T) department for effective monitoring.

"Skill Colleges will create new learning opportunities for the students who pass out from regular ITI, polytechnic, engineering and degree colleges and a certain percentage of the capacity needs up-gradation of skilling. These colleges shall offer industry-aligned courses drawing from the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) models of Sweden and Germany's dual education system with at least 50 per cent of on-the-job-training beyond the classroom learning," said B Nageswara Rao, executive director of the AP State Skill Development Corporation. The courses and curriculum will be in alignment across sectors that are relevant to the industry clusters in the areas concerned.

Four domain labs along with IT/ITeS lab and language-laboratory will be established in each college. Required equipment in the laboratories would be provided as per industry relevance. Support from the local or international industries would be mobilised to establish the equipment in the laboratories while the civil infrastructure and the government will provide operating costs. Further, certification of these courses will be done jointly by the Skill AP Mission/University and the relevant industry. The government is seeking potential partnerships with industries to help in establishing the 30 skill colleges with relevant infrastructure, industry-aligned curriculum, on-job-training etc., across all districts in different modes of partnership.

"The headquarters is also planned for the corporation at Yerpedu in Chittoor district in 50 acre land. We requested a centre for Tirupati LS constituency at Venkatagiri and chairman, Ch Madhusudan Reddy, agreed to it. These colleges are much useful for upgrading the skills of the youngsters to meet the demand from the industry," said N Ramkumar Reddy, YSR Congress leader and in-charge of Tirupati and Bapatla LS constituencies.