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The skills development ministry on Tuesday issued guidelines for awarding bodies, which set the standards for various skill training, and assessment agencies, which evaluate learning outcomes, so as to improve and standardize processes of skilling and certification under Skill India Mission.
These guidelines under the National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET) will strengthen regulation of bodies that certify a skilled candidate across sectors and help create a vibrant policy framework to transform the skilling network in the country, skills development minister Mahendra Nath Pandey said.
“With this dynamic and outcome-focused document, we will be able to bring in positive reforms in both short term and long term skilling endeavors,” he said.
NCEVT will soon come up with a monitoring mechanism to ensure the successful implementation of these guidelines, officials said.
As per the guidelines, assessment agencies will be recognized under five categories – standard, dual, sectoral, geographical, and for vocational education in schools.
An agency will be recognized for an initial period of three years and the recognition will be renewed for another two years based on its performance and adherence to the continuation criteria.
Applying agencies should have three years of experience (inclusive of the year of application) and must have conducted at least 100,000 assessments in a year. The criteria, however, would be relaxed for government bodies and other institutions operating in niche areas.
In the past, most of the country’s skill training needs were met through courses offered by the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and under the Modular Employable Scheme (MES) regulated by NCVT.
