Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has undertaken several initiatives to achieve women empowerment through skill development since its inception.
Increase of women participation in workforce can give further boost to country’s economy and ‘Skill India Mission’ is committed to facilitate this through equipping women with market relevant skills and leading them to a path of self-sufficiency through entrepreneurship.
Several initiatives have been undertaken to facilitate skill development among women and spur entrepreneurship including long Term Skill Development Training via Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs).
Through a wide network of 15,042 ITIs, spanning the country, over 22.82 lakh candidates have been enrolled (in the trades of one year and two-year duration) and special focus is laid on enrollment of women.
There is nearly 97 per cent increase in admissions in 2018 as compared to 2014 to reach 173,105 women trainees from 87,799. As many as 18 National Skill Training Institutes (for Women) are imparting skill training exclusively for women.
Further, exclusive batches to provide basic/ theoretical training to women have been started under National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) in all Centrally Funded Institutes (CFIs).
The NSTIs(W) organised NCVT approved skill training programmes under Craftsmen Training Scheme and Craft Instructors’ Training Scheme in several areas such as Office Management, Electronics, Fashion Design & Technology, Computer Aided Embroidery & Designing etc.
The ministry is also seeing active participation from women in new age job roles aligned to Industry 4.0 like those in Artificial Intelligence, 3D printing, Data Analytics etc and also across in skills like welding, automobile mechanics etc.
Under the Short Term Skill Development Training programmes, the flagship program of the Ministry, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojan strives to promote increased participation of women in the workforce through appropriate skills and gender mainstreaming of skills.
Close to 50 per cent of the candidates enrolled and trained under PMKVY are women, out of the total 56 lakh candidates, who have benefited from the scheme. The efforts are made to continually revise job roles taking into account market demand and are cognizant of industry requirements for female professionals.
Programmes under the ‘Skill India Mission’ are designed to not only train women in relevant skills that are sought by employers, they are also sensitive to their needs by providing safe transport, flexible schedules and childcare support.
While women dominate sectors such as Apparel, Beauty & Wellness and Healthcare, there is significant presence in non-traditional roles such as those in Electronics and Hardware, with a large number of female enrollments (1.03 lakh) under the Field Technician – Computing and Peripherals job role in this sector.
Skill India has partnered with Government Initiatives like Ayushman Bharat, Swachh Bharat Mission, Smart City Mission etc to align skill development efforts to these national missions by ensuring a steady flow of skilled workforce.
These programmes are also generating lakhs of jobs, particularly for women by creation of job roles like caregiver, midwives, nurses and diabetes educators.
Under the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) more than 4 lakh women candidates have been oriented in different skill areas, recognizing their existing skills through a formal certificate and giving them a means to earn better livelihood.
The comprehensive reforms that have been made to the Apprenticeship Act 1961 has opened up opportunities for apprentices in the service sector. Skill India through NSDC, is conducting focused pilot programme with UNDP and Society of Development Alternatives, to benefit more than 50,000 women in seven states/UTs over a duration of 15 months.
To further promote Apprenticeship training, Directorate General of Training, a wing under MSDE, is undertaking gender study to determine constraints for women in participating in ITI and Apprenticeship training and their transition into the labor market.
The National Skill Development and Policy focuses on inclusive skill development with the objective of increased women participation for better economic productivity.
To achieve this, emphasis has been laid on creating additional infrastructure both for training and apprenticeship for women; flexible training delivery mechanisms such mobile training units, flexible afternoon batches along with on local need-based training to accommodate women; and ensuring safe and gender sensitive training environment, employment of women trainers, equity in remuneration, and complaint redressal mechanism. (UNI)
