A Skills Mission Society has been launched in Delhi on Thursday aiming to create skilled manpower according to market demands and pave way for self employment for younger generation.

Presiding over the 1st meeting of General Council of the Society (DSMS) Delhi’s Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit called upon to include migratory workers in modus operandi of the mission which would provide skill development training to pass-out school students, unemployed youth, school drop-outs and informal sector workers & facilitate certification of skills acquired informally. It would also strive hard to bridge the gap between industry demand and number of skilled personnel.

The Chief Minister is Chairman of the General Council whereas five of her cabinet colleagues, Chief Secretary, Pr. Secretary to CM, a number of Pr. Secretaries, secretaries, Police Commissioner, VC (DDA), Chairman (DDA) are members of the 21-member Council.

The society will ensure time-bound training to the targeted number of high quality skilled personnel, across the strata of society and among the disadvantaged sections. It would also grant accreditation to skilled training institutes, providers and instructors. The Governing Council would give overall policy direction and guidance for skilled development, suggestions and convergence between programmes and schemes of other departments and promote convergence of various schemes related to skilled development. It would bring all the departments and other Government agencies conducting such skill and vocational training programmes under the umbrella of the DSMS. This would also ensure that the supply of skills training is in tune with market demand for skills.

The DSMS would be a five-year long initiative, focusing on upgrading the skills of youth (drop out of school), informal sector workers and other weaker sections of the Delhi’s Society. The mission would draw upon partnerships from a range of institutions in the public and private sectors. Public Private Partnership (PPP) and encouraging private players to start skills development facilities would be an integral part of the skills mission.

There would be a 15-member executive council headed by the Chief Secretary to take all decisions. The mission would also try to create an atmosphere conducive to shift focus from formal education to vocational education. The CII has offered all possible assistance and cooperation to make efforts of DSMS more purposeful and fruitful.