Employment exchanges in Odisha to become career centres

The Odisha government on Sunday proposed to the Centre that it will convert all district employment exchanges to model career centres under the National Career Service Programme.

The central government is trying to restructure the defunct employment exchanges of the country and turn them into career centres on the lines of online job portals like naukri.com and timesjob.com.

To begin with, the ministry will launch an online platform for both job openings as well as job seekers’ resumes. Candidates will get expert advice and career counselling based on an aptitude test they will be given.

“It will facilitate single-point contact for counselling, soft skill training and enable placement through local industries and other potential employers,” said employment, technical education and training (ETET) minister Sanjay Das Burma at NITI Aayog sub-group meeting in Raipur (Chhattisgarh) on Sunday.

In a report, focusing on state’s view on different aspects of skill development, to the aayog, the government had advocated for setting up industrial training institutes (ITIs) and vocational training centres in all blocks.

Das Burma said the Odisha government is taking steps to establish ITI in each sub-division during current financial year. “We have set up 72 skill development centres, which will take care of training infrastructure shortage,” he added.

The state also urged the Centre to partner with international agencies for setting up multi-skill development centres in states. “We also urged the Centre to direct central boards such as All India Council for Technical Education, National Council on Vocational Training and University Grants Commission to develop strong technical contents in school vocational education,” the minister said.

Odisha also batted for promoting national and state-level skill universities, which will work in close coordination with industries, training and academic institutions, skill councils and government agencies.

The minister also sought flexibility for the states to modify guidelines of central skill development schemes to suit local needs.