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Karnataka is known for its talent pool of engineers, making it a location of choice for fresh graduate engineers. What is less known but equally impressive is the State's efforts in furthering skill development activities, vocational training and placement programmes.
Karnataka was the first State to set up a skill commission and took the lead in fulfilling the Centre's objective of having 500 million skilled people in the country by 2022. The Karnataka Skill Commission and the Karnataka Vocational Training and Skill Development Corporation (KVTSDC) were constituted in September 2008 with the objective of creating one million new jobs within five years. Karnataka is also the first State to have an employment exchange based on the public-private partnership model.
KVTSDC first identifies and registers unemployed youth in the State. The target group includes school dropouts, unemployed youth, ITI/diploma students and differently-abled people. It addresses the skills gap across sectors by providing them with trained youth.
The Corporation has been working with several private sector companies to bring vocational education and employment to the State's youth.
In July last year, staffing solutions company TeamLease Services partnered the Karnataka Government to create the Karnataka Employment Center (KEC), an employment exchange that helps in registration, assessment, counselling, training, certification and placement of youth in the State. KEC will leverage TeamLease's network and connects with the industry to access jobs across the country, covering over 1,200 companies.
KEC is expected to train and place over 2,000 candidates in the first 12 months, with the capability to expand over time. Till now, over 4,000 candidates have registered with KEC. Over 400 candidates have been placed, while another 300 candidates are currently undergoing training. The candidates were placed in the IT and ITeS sectors, manufacturing, automobile, construction, retail, healthcare and BFSI sectors.
KVTSDC has also partnered with retailing firm Bharti Walmart and the Directorate of Employment to launch the Bharti Walmart Skill Centre at Bangalore which will train 100 candidates every month and make them eligible for employment in the retail sector. The programmes are of three-four weeks' duration and will award certificates for floor assistants, sales assistants and team leaders.
KVTSDC has also partnered IBM to develop a Smarter Employability Platform to increase the effectiveness of employment and skill enhancement programmes in the State. IBM will create a platform to effectively connect jobseekers to employers, training and certification agencies through mobile phones in local and vernacular languages.
Jobseekers will, thus, be able to find jobs and apply for the same while understanding job trends and also refer opportunities to their friends using their mobile phones.
Employers can post jobs, increase their reach, find matching candidates, connect with trainers, and track the latest trends through both mobile phones and Web channels.
Dr Vishnukanth S. Chatpalli, Executive Director, KVTSDC, says, “We recognise that the lack of necessary job skills is the core issue affecting the employability of our youth and the KVTSDC was created to address this issue.”
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