Equip Youth to Find Novel Ideas, Urges Pinarayi Vijayan

KOCHI:
Making a strong plea to equip youngsters with innovative ideas in the rapidly changing job sector, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today said it is imperative for the parents and society to change their attitude that would allow the youth to leverage their skills and script success in the face of tough competition.
Pinarayi was speaking during the inauguration of the state-level finale of the ‘India Skills Kerala 2018’, being jointly organised by Industrial Training Department and Kerala Academy for Skills Excellence (KASE), the State Skill Development Mission, at Marine Drive here. Winners of the zonal competitions are participating in the three-day finale that will conclude on April 30.
Stressing the importance of skill development along with academic studies, Pinarayi quoted a report by McKinsey Global Institute, which says that around 50 per cent of the current jobs will vanish by 2035. This will lead to the popping up of new job sectors like Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Machine Learning.
The Chief Minister also cited a World Bank Report, which observes that 24 main employment sectors of the country’s economy would require 11 crore skilled people by 2022. “We have to grab this opportunity by reinforcing our skills and excellence. There will be a common job sector in the world in future. So the tough competition could be surpassed by our strength in skill-oriented jobs.”
On the occasion, Vijayan flagged off the march past of the 112 finalists. The finalists qualified for the finale by piping 7,422 participants in the district and zonal competitions.
Minister for Labour, Skills and Excise T.P. Ramakrishnan, who presided over the function, said the government is trying to elevate the standard of training institutes on par with global standard. The Minister also visited the stalls at the venue.
In his welcome address, Additional Chief Secretary, Labour and Skills Department, Tom Jose, said the youth should become job providers instead of job seekers. Dr. Sriram Venkitaraman, Director, Employment and Training, and Managing Director, KASE, proposed a vote of thanks.
The state-level winners will represent Kerala at the ‘India Skills 2018’ planned in July, which will pave the way for their participation in the 45th World Skills Competition in Kazan, Russia in 2019. The competitions will commence on Sunday at the venue where 23 exhibition stalls have been set up. Major national and state agencies are participating in the exhibition based on the current theme of skill development.
Tom Jose will give away the prizes to the winners at the valedictory function to be held on Monday evening (April 30). On the sidelines of the finale, a panel discussion, led by experts, on the topic “Entrepreneurship and Employment in Changing World” will be organised on April 29 at 6 pm. ‘India Skills Kerala 2018’ explores skills in 20 sectors, including Carpentry; Web Design and Development, Fashion Technology; Mobile Robotics and Electronics.
The zonal competitions were held in Thiruvananthapuram, Chalakkudy and Kozhikode. The winner will get Rs 1 lakh as prize money while the runner-up will get Rs 50,000. Consolation prizes will be given to the participants, who entered the state-level competitions.