Scores vie for Honours in North Zone India Skills Kerala Event

KOZHIKODE:
Scores of youths from the northern districts vied for honours by displaying their technical and vocational skills as the four-day zonal competitions of the India Skills Kerala 2018 got under way today.
Competitions in as many as 20 disciplines including graphic and web designing ,3-D game art and mobile robotics are being held as part of the event, organized by the Industrial Training Department and Kerala Academy for Skills Excellence (KASE), at Malikkadavu ITI near here.
The thrust of the India Skills Kerala 2018 is to promote and support young talents in diverse vocational trades and skills by offering them a platform to compete and excel. Apart from rewarding the winners with cash prizes and citation, the outstanding performers will also qualify for the state and national level competitions and finally for the world skills summit to be held in Kazan in Russia in 2019.
Inaugurating the North Zone competitions, K Rathidevi, Corporation Councilor, said it marked the efforts to revamp the skill and vocational education to upgrade the vocational and skill education to the international standards.
Presiding over the inaugural function, Sunil Jacob, Joint Director, Indistrial Training Department, said the vocational and skill education in the country is yet to achieve the global standards to meet the emerging demands and challenges.
“This is evident if we look at the cars plying on our roads. The cars made in India often fail to achieve the quality and technical perfection of foreign cars,” he noted.
“Though our roads are crowded with motorbikes and there exists a chain of workshops for their maintenance, the technical solution providers often fail to satisfy the customers”, he said.
This situation should change and it is with this aim that the government has embarked on a mission for the drastic revamp of the technical and vocational education and training, he said, adding, the competitions under the India Skills Kerala 2018 formed part of the efforts in that direction.
Principal of Malikkadavu ITI, Mr K V Muhammad, Vice Pricipal P D Muraleedharan and Women’s ITI Vice Principal Ummar P Punathil also spoke on the occasion. Winners from the district level competitions, held earlier this month, have qualified for the zonal event. Two winners from each discipline will qualify for the state level competitions to be held later this month.
What is unique about the India Skills Kerala is that the platform is open not only to those who have studied in recognized institutions but also for those who have acquired skills through their own personal initiative. The participants have entered the competitions by registering themselves online.