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“I am confident that ATDC will become a seed farm for skilled manpower in the fashion and garment sector. I wish them all the best and assure our full support in their stride.” — Mr. Alok Kumar (IAS), Director General/Joint Secretary, DGE&T, GOI
Mr Virender Uppal, Chairman, ATDC and Professor S.S. Mantha, Chairman, AICTE exchanging the MoU in the presence of senior officials. garment sector. I wish them all the best and assure our full support,” said Mr Kumar, emphasising on the need to launch long-term quality programmes required by the industry. Mr. Virender Uppal, Chairman, AEPC, Mr. Hari Kapoor, Vice-Chairman, ATDC, Mr. H.K.L Magu, Chairman (F&B) and Mr. Dinesh Nijhawan, Director, Skill Development Initiative, DGE&T and Mr. RL Singh, DDG were also present at the MoU-signing event. “The flexi-MoU agreement aims at imparting employment-oriented training to the youth on National Level. It plans to offer specific vocational training programmes as per the skills needed for the job and demands of the industry to train particularly youth & women,” adds Mr. Nijhawan.
For the task, ATDC will provide training and facilitate employment after necessary assessment in coordination with DGE&T. “We are thankful to the Government of India for choosing us as the proud partner to implement the SDIS. We will leave no stones unturned to impart necessary skills to empower the students which would help them in getting job and starting their own business. Special emphasis would be given to impart soft skill and communications skills to groom the trainees,” informs Dr. Darlie Koshy. The MoU will help in three ways. Firstly, it will cut short many impediments in nationwide implementation of the skill-based programmes. Secondly, it will focus on changing technology being incorporated in
“We will leave no stones unturned to impart necessary skills to empower the students which would help them in getting wage employment or even help in starting their own business. Special emphasis would be given to impart soft and life skills.” — Dr. Darlie O. Koshy, DG & CEO, ATDC & IAM
courses and lastly, more focus on longer duration programmes with support of DGE&T by twinning with industry inputs. With a pan-India presence having over 176 centres that has the capacity to train 50,000 candidates per annum in short term and 10,000 in longer-duration courses, ATDC has the required capacity to meet the targets. “With this flexi-MoU, it is now possible to meet specific training demands of a particular company. If tomorrow, big multi-national companies like Amazon calls us and says that we need 30 people to be trained in a particular module, we can do that. Earlier, it was not possible,” Dr. Darlie Koshy emphasises. “This is the biggest advantage of a flexi-MOU. We can work with the ex-
porters directly. The training is now outcome focused and we can make custom-made courses as per the requirement of the industry. At the end of the day, we are getting specialised people to the job that needs to be done,” he continues. Mr. Kumar and Dr. Darlie Koshy expressed satisfaction on the ongoing schemes and assured of their strong support to various new programmes being devised by the DGE&T and ATDC. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Uppal said: “There is an acute shortage of skilled workforce at every level and this MoU will help address this shortage in a significant manner.” Mr. Kapoor suggested that under the MoU, customised courses can be launched in partnership with large ap-
parel export houses and leading domestic manufacturers. One thing is certain: The collaboration will compliment DGE&T and ATDC capabilities to reach and achieve a common goal of skilling India. B. VOC PROGRAMMES TO HERALD NEW FUTURE Pure skill orientation beyond a point is actually contradictory to the aspirational society that India is. “The need of the hour is a creative approach and for that, one needs new ladders of training. We need to bring in a whole new bouquet of things to make this really work,” says Dr. Darlie Koshy. With this mindset, ATDC has signed an MoU with the All India Council of Technical Training (AICTE) for approval
to offer B. Voc Programmes in Apparel Manufacturing & Entrepreneurship and Fashion Design & Retailing. The MoU, signed in the presence of Professor S.S. Mantha, Chairman, AICTE and Mr Virender Uppal, Chairman, ATDC, in the presence of other senior officials, is a very significant one as it certainly goes a long way in promoting skill-based competency modules to be part of the skill certification levels where a student can undergo skill based learning in textile, apparel and fashion sectors systematically and have both lateral and vertical mobility. “Such an arrangement would encourage employability, and also flexibility to pursue formal education and take up appropriate jobs in the Fibre-toFashion value chain at the end of differ-
INTERVIEW: Dr. Latha Pillai, Director, Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development (RGNIYD)
‘B. Voc programmes will infuse entrepreneurship in youth’ am glad that the Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development (RGNIYD) an Institute of National Importance and ATDC which is the leading Skill Knowledge Provider (SKP) in the apparel sector have come together to launch B. Voc (Bachelors’ in Vocational Education) programmes.These programmes will not only help skill a large pool of youth but also infuse entrepreneurship in them – thus contributing significantly towards the Central Government’s “Skill India” and “Make In India” initiatives. Through the MoU with ATDC , the B Voc Degree Programmes would be offered under the tripartite arrangement between RGNIYD as “University” and Institute of Apparel Management (IAM), Gurgaon and ATDC being “Knowledge Partner and SKP,” respectively. Under the “Skill-Development” component, ATDC and IAM will provide students with appropriate knowledge, practice and attitude so that they become industry-ready. “General Component” programmes geared towards holistic development of youth in contemporary society with emphasis on aspects such as life skills,
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youth-led development, language and communication skills, will be provided by RGNIYD. The B. Voc programmes are based on the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) that addresses critical knowledge and skill sets required to make the candidate “industry ready” right from the start and also become a “young-entrepreneur”. India is one of the youngest nations in the world
with more than 54 percent of the total population below age 25. Thus, right skilling is crucial as we are witnessing an increasing requirement of skilled youth across the spectrum. There is a distinct rise in demand for “Skill Education”. Here, the collaboration between ATDC and RGNIYD can help bridge the skill gap and prepare the new generation for the forthcoming global challenges. The focus of RGNIYD is to develop into a globally recognised and acclaimed centre of academic excellence in the field of youth development, fully responsive to the national agenda for inclusive growth, and catering to the needs and aspirations of young people to realise their potential.The collaboration will create synergies between two important institutions, RGNIYD and ATDC and propel the movement for creating a pool of professionally-talented people in the textile sector. The economy grows when the youth becomes competitive enough. I appreciate ATDC’s endevavour to launch long-term programmes which will help train our youth gain “employability” in a professional way.