Bhubaneswar: The Skill Development and Technical Education (SDTE) Department is entrusted with the commission of nurturing and strengthening the human resource potential of the State through the provision of qualitative, affordable and accessible technical & vocational education and skill development programs for all sections of the society with the vision of empowering the youths of the state to become technically competent and join the global workforce, said Pritiranjan Gharai, Minister SDTE.
Addressing the press today at the Geeta Govinda Sadan Gharai said that Skill Development Programme through a sustainable technical and vocational educational eco-system has become one of the flagship Schemes of the Government of Odisha with an overarching mission to bring transformative human development through skilling of youth and making “Skilled-in-Odisha” a global household Brand, said an official press release.
Directorate of Technical Education and Training, Directorate of Employment, Odisha Skill Development Authority, State Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training are the major Directorates/ establishments running under this Department.
There are three Government Technical Universities, viz., Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT), Rourkela, Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT), Burla, Odisha University of Technology and Research(OUTR), Bhubaneswar, 4 Government Engineering Colleges and 2 Government Management Colleges functioning in the State.
The four Government Engineering Colleges are Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology, Sarang, Dhenkanal, Parala Maharaja Engineering College, Berhampur, Government College of Engineering, Keonjhar, Government College of Engineering, Kalahandi.
The two Government Management Colleges are the College of IT & Management Education, Bhubaneswar and the Institute of Management and Information Technology, Cuttack.
Biju Pattanaik Film & Television Institute of Odisha, Cuttack is also functioning under the administrative control of this Department.
Also there are 60 Government ITIs and 34 Government Polytechnics functioning in different districts of the State.
Ten major Departments / Government Agencies are engaged in skill development activities and they include SD&TE Department through DTE&T and Odisha Skill Development Authority, Panchayati Raj Department, ST&SC Development Department, Tourism Department, Agriculture, Handloom & Textiles, Commerce & Transport, Fisheries & ARD, Electronics & Information Technology Department & MSME Department.
A total number of 16,17,101 youths have been trained under the Skilled in Odisha banner.
With the objective of global standard of excellence in skill training, Chief Minister unveiled the logo of the ‘Skilled-in-Odisha’ campaign of the State Government in 2018.
Since then it has become the mission of the SDTE Department to shift the focus from “Skilled” to “Skilled-in-Odisha” and to create an aspirational idea of a brand that the best-skilled people come from our State.
Under the Odisha Skill Development Project (OSDP), World Skill Center (WSC) with state-of-the-art infrastructure has been established as the premier skill training institute of the Government of Odisha to impart high-end industry-oriented training to the youth of the State to make them Up-skilled and employable for national and international level jobs.
All Districts are covered by at least one Government Polytechnic. In the Financial Year 2022-23, 11 new Government ITIs have been made functional taking the total number of Government ITIs to 60 in the State. Another 09 Government ITIs would be made operational in the ensuing Financial Year.
In ITIs & Polytechnics, the quality of education has been enhanced through Centre of Excellences, Mini Tool Rooms, Digital content, Life Skill training etc. Grading of Polytechnics is done through the Quality Council of India to instil competitiveness among them. Industry-standard exposure is given to students through partnerships with reputed organisations.
As a part of the 5T initiative of the Government, Odisha University of Technology and Research (formerly CET) will be developed into a University of excellence in the course of the next five years with a total outlay of Rs 1500 Crore.
Also, VSSUT, Burla will have a facelift with facilities like smart classrooms, advanced laboratories and computer centres with a spending of Rs 2000 crore in the course of the next five years.
On the infrastructure front, a sum of Rs 241 crore is allocated in Budget 2023-24 for the development of Government Technical Universities, Engineering Colleges, Polytechnics and ITIs.
The Spirit of entrepreneurship is being nurtured through Nano Unicorn Programme by providing an interest-free loan of 1 lakh for 1 year is given to young and aspiring entrepreneurs. In the last five years, more than 500 entrepreneurs have benefited through the above programme.
SDTE Department is providing Placement Linked Training Programme (PLTP) from 2011-12 through OSDA in association with credible training partners for providing skill training in various demand-driven sectors.
Objective of the program is mobilization, counselling, training and placement of unemployed youth through skill upgradation to enhance their employability. Since 2011-12, 1, 12,694 youth have been trained under PLTP in the State and 30038 youth have been placed in various organisations, Gharai stated.
Usha Padhee, Principal Secretary, SDTE said that Odisha’s Aswatha Narayana Sanagavarapu won first ever gold for India at the World Skills Competition 2019 held at Kazan in Russia. In India Skill Competition concluded in January 2022 at New Delhi, Odisha team bagged the first position in the medal tally (10 Gold, 18 Silver, 10 Bronze and 13 Medallions of Excellence) for the first time.
In the World Skills Competition 2022 held at different parts of Europe, Odisha won one Silver Medal in Water Technology and one Medallion of Excellence in Restaurant Services in the event.
As per the latest data (Feb 2023) of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the Unemployment rate in Odisha (1.5%) is way below the National Average (7.5%) and Odisha fares better than most of the States on the same. This has become possible due to the concerted effort of various Government Departments, Industries, Private Sector players/agencies and other stakeholders.
The Sudakhya scheme has been introduced in Government ITIs in the state. Under the scheme, girl students, irrespective of category, are given scholarships so that their education in ITI courses is free of cost.
The scheme also covers the hostel expenses for girls staying in hostels. The girl students who go for apprenticeships after the ITI courses are eligible to get a Rs 1000 top-up in addition to the prescribed stipend under National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme.
Any girl passing out from Govt ITIs, who take up employment outside the state is given Rs 5000 as a one-time maintenance cost to cover the cost of relocation.
After the introduction of the scheme, the girls’ enrolment in Govt ITIs has increased from 6% in 2016-17 to 22% in 2022-23. In the current year, extensive counselling is going on and we expect to increase the girls’ enrolment further.
The government has announced the extension of the Scheme to Government Polytechnics in budget 2023-24.
NUA ODISHA (Nutana Unnata Abhilasha, Odisha) is the New Scheme declared by the Govt. for imparting training of youth to face new age emerging technology.
In this scheme youths will be provided with new technologies like – Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Data Science, 3D printing ect.
Around one lakh youths will be provided with this training. This will immensely help in making youths ready for the jobs of tomorrow.
The “GREEN PASSAGE” programme is newly introduced by the SD&TE Deptt and implemented from the Financial Year 2023-24 onwards.
The objective of the scheme is to help Orphans pursuing training in Govt. ITIs and studying in Govt. Polytechnics.
Under this programme tuition fees, application fees, hostel seat rent, library charges, and examination fee for the orphan students admitted in Govt. ITIs and Polytechnics shall be free.
Besides this monthly maintenance allowance of Rs 2,000 to students staying in hostels and Rs 1,000 to Day Scholars will be paid.
Our ITI and Diploma Passout students are placed in organizations like, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, ITC, Suzuki motors, Ashok Leyland, etc.
All the 214 graduating students of the first batch of World Skill Centre, Bhubaneswar got placed in various reputed companies including international placement of 56 students.
Indramani Tripathy, Director, I&PR Department and Gurbir Singh, Joint Director, I&PR Coordinated the Press Conference where as Senior Officials from SDTE Department and representatives of media houses were present.
