KOCHI:
If self-motivated practice can help one acquire capabilities much beyond what one learns academically, then the ongoing India Skills Kerala 2020 best exemplifies it — going by the performance of the participants.
As the central-zone competitions of the five-day round progress in the middle districts of Ernakulam, Thrissur and Kottayam, as many as 1,344 contestants are busy displaying their eminence in a total of 42 skills across five venues to qualify for the state-level finale next month.
Even as the competitions are for skills that require years of work experience to excel, youngsters form a majority of the contestants at the January 27-31 round. A chunk of the new-age participants is out to brush their brilliance with veterans, after having learned the tricks of the trade from social media, reveal organisers of the event held by the state government.
“This event dispels the general notion that you need to be academically qualified to excel in a trade,” points out a teacher, who is also a judge at India Skills Kerala 2020 being organized by the Industrial Training Department and Kerala Academy for Skills Excellence, both under the State Labour and Skills Department. “By sheer talent and determination, several young competitors tend to outshine those who have academic qualifications in their trade.”
The central zone competitions being held in five ITIs — Kalamassery (Ernakulam district), Ettumanoor, Pallikkathod (Kottayam), Mala and Chalakudy (Thrissur) — are being particularly noticed for the wide range of the age bracket of the contestants. They include little boys and girls as well as adults.
While the preliminary district-level competitions of the event had concluded on January 20, the zonal-level event will continue till this Friday.
The ITI at Chalakudy, 50 km north of here, is holding zonal competitions in floristry, electrical installations, electronics, plastering and drywall systems, welding, refrigeration and air-conditioning, besides car-painting for all the three zones of the state. The event there was formally inaugurated by local legislator V D Devassy.
The previous edition of annual event held competitions in 20 skills. This time, of the 42, as many as 20 are academic skills, while the rest are specialised skills. The grand State-level finale is scheduled from February 22 to 24 at Kozhikode. The winners at those competitions will get Rs 1,00,000 each as prize money, and runners up Rs 50,000. All finalists will get Rs 10,000 each.
The state-level winners will qualify for the national competitions. The prize-winning performers in that round will represent the country at World Skills 2021 in Shanghai, China.
