KOZHIKODE:
The country’s most literate state began its biggest endeavour to showcase the technical proficiency of the youth, as curtains went up for India Skills Kerala 2020 with Labour and Skills Minister T P Ramakrishnan inaugurating the three-day event featuring 253 participants who will be proving their eminence in 39 disciplines having huge prize monies and a ticket for an international-level competition in China at stake.
“The government has initiated several skill development programmes. India Skills Kerala is part of that mission,” the minister said, while declaring open the February 22-24 state-level round with prize monies totalling Rs 78 lakh.
The event has also at stake an opportunity for the competitors to participate in national competitions where the victors get a chance to represent the country at World Skills 2021 at Shanghai in China.
Noting that Kerala is to soon bring out a state Skills Policy, Ramakrishnan said the government would come up with a Career Policy shortly considering a recent surge in the importance of technology in the new age. “We must promote a culture where students earn while studying. The state needs its youth in educational institutions to do part-time jobs,” he added at the ceremony in Swapna Nagari, the centre-stage of the event being organised by the Industrial Training Department (ITD) and Kerala Academy for Skills Excellence (KASE), both under the Labour and Skills Department.
India Skills Kerala gives the top winner of each skill Rs 1 lakh, while the runner-up will be given Rs 50,000. Those finishing in the subsequent four ranks get Rs 10,000 each. “Kozhikode has a history of popularizing people’s festival,” Ramakrishnan noted. “Let genuine and extraordinary skills lead the youth to greater heights.”
A Pradeepkumar, MLA, who is the Chairman of the event’s organising committee, in his presidential address, said at a time when the engineering education is witnessing travesty, events focused on the skill development of youth are a welcome sign.
The others who attended the function were Kozhikode Deputy Mayor Meera Darshak, District Collector Seeram Sambasiva Rao, Sub Collector Priyanka, Kerala State Planning Board Member Dr K.V. Ravi Raman, National Skill Development Corporation Assistant Manager Smt. Indira Thakur, Pathanamthitta Collector P.B. Nooh, and Overseas Development and Employment Promotion Consultants (ODEPC) Chairman Sasidharan Nair. N.
State Labour and Skills Development Additional Chief Secretary Satyajit Rajan, welcomed the gathering, while ITD Director S Chandrasekhar, who is also KASE Managing Director, proposed a vote of thanks.
Of the 39 skills for which competitions are on at India Skills Kerala, 32 are at Swapna Nagari. Three (CNC Milling, CNC Turning, Plastic Die Engg) have NTTF, Thalassery (Kannur district) as the venue. Further, in Kozhikode, Print Media Technology contest has Mathrubhumi as the venue, Cooking is slated to be held at SIHM and Water Technology at CWRDM. Government ITI at Chalakudy (Thrissur district) is holding competitions in Car Painting.
The calendar for the event is dotted with technological exhibitions and open forums featuring experts on a wide range of subjects, besides cultural evenings. The valedictory function on Monday evening will have Transport Minister A.K. Saseendran as the chief guest.
India Skills Kerala comes as a result of its district-level competitions held last month, with 4,298 contestants. The 1,278 winners among them subsequently qualified for the zonal rounds held separately for the north, central and south regions of the state.
While the state-level winners qualify for the national competitions, the prize-winning performers in that round will represent the country at World Skills 2021 in Shanghai. That global round next year will have youngsters from 83 countries vying for honours and prizes in 54 skills.
India Skills Kerala’s preliminary district-level competitions concluded on January 20, while the four-day zonal-level event ended on the last day of that month. The age bracket of the contestants has been wide, as they include little boys and girls as well as adults of any educational qualification. The age limit for India Skills Kerala is 21 years.
The following are the competition categories at Swapna Nagari:
3D Digital Game Art, Auto Body Repair, Automobile Technology, Bakery, Beauty Therapy, Brick Laying, CNC Miling, CNC Turning, Cabinet Making, Car painting, Carpentry, Cooking, Cyber Security, Electrical Installations, Electronics, Fashion Technology, Floristry, Graphic Design Technology, Hair Dressing, Health and Social Care, Hotel Reception, Information Networking Cabling, Jewellery, Joinery, Landscape Gardening, Mechanical Engineering CAD, Mobile Robotics, Painting and Decorating, Patisserie and Confectionery, Plastering and Drywall System, Plastic Die Engineering, Plumbing and Heating, Print Media Technology, Refrigeration and Air conditioning, Restaurant Service, Wall and Floor Tiling, Water Technology, Web Technologies, and Welding.
The 2018 edition had three Malayalis competing at the international finale in Russia’s Kazan after the national round in Delhi. Kerala had 41 participants at the national round’s zonal-level competitions, and 20 of them qualified for the Delhi event. There, at the India Skills 2018, Kerala won 10 medals (one coming from a wild card entry). At the World Skills 2019 in Kazan, two from Kerala earned the Medallion for Excellence award.
