Bhubaneswar: The state government Wednesday signed four memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with various companies to enhance the skill competency and employability of the youths of Odisha.
This year the World Youth Skills Day was celebrated virtually in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. Various webinars have been organised by leading ITIs involving industry leaders to attract the youth to the skill ecosystem and provide them the opportunity to explore new avenues for sustainable livelihood. The theme for 2020 World Youth Skills Day is ‘Skills for a Resilient Youth’.
The first MoU was signed between Odisha Skill Development Authority (OSDA) chief executive officer Rashmita Panda and UN Women’s deputy country representative Nishtha Satyam. The partnership with UN Women will lead to design and implementation of ongoing and new skilling initiatives from a gender perspective.
Director of technical education and training Reghu G and founder of SAK Robotics Sakhyasingha signed the second MoU. As per the agreement, SAK Robotics will progressively cover all ITIs in the state to create exposure for ITI students to include robotics skills in their respective domains.
Another agreement was signed between OSDA and Coursera to provide skill development training on data science and technology. Collaboration with Coursera is a response to Covid-19 pandemic, said an official.
The fourth MoU was signed between OSDA and Times Pro (Partner of SAP) to provide training to students from government engineering and professional institutes in SAP ERP courses. This will enable Odisha students to compete in global market place for availing better opportunities and create a talent pool for the Information Technology (IT) Industry, the official stated.
On the occasion, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, “I am glad to learn that in these testing times, when the Covid-19 pandemic has raised new challenges to the mankind, skill eco-system of Odisha has taken a giant step forward in innovation for facing the emergent challenges. I am confident that the collaborations will lead to more opportunities for our youth at the global level and will make skill aspirational for them.”
Among others, Skill Development & Technical Education Minister Premananda Nayak, OSDA chairman Subroto Bagchi and Skill Development secretary Sanjay Kumar Singh addressed the audience.