Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) under its flagship Scheme Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY 2.0) 2016-20 launched Skills Career Counselling initiative to counsel one crore candidates in the age group of 15-35 years focusing on School & College drop-outs, young adults from the community, college students, polytechnic students, ITI students, Diploma students, Graduates, Post-Graduates, NEET category (Not in Employment education or Training), etc. pan India from August 2018.

Government have notified the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) which is the National Standard for vocational education and training. NSQF is a competency-based framework that organizes all qualifications according to a series of levels of knowledge, skills and aptitude. These levels, graded from one to ten, are defined in terms of learning outcomes which the learner must possess regardless of whether they are obtained through formal, non-formal or informal learning. NSQF is a quality assurance and a nationally integrated education and competency-based skill framework that provides for horizontal as well as vertical mobility between vocational education, skill training, general education and technical education. This enables a person to acquire desired competency levels, transit to the job market and, at an opportune time, return for acquiring additional skills to further upgrade their competences

The Ministry has also issued a Gazette Notification for the formation of “National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET)” on 5^th December, 2018. The NCVET would play the role of National Regulator for both short term and long term skill training and is mandated to look into development, qualitative improvement and regulation of vocational education and training, grant recognition to and monitor the functioning of awarding bodies, assessment agencies and skill information providers.

PMKVY and its empanelled training centres are being monitored effectively through various methodologies including IT interventions and measures such as self-audit reporting, call validations, surprise visits and monitoring through the Skills Development Management System (SDMS), SMART, AEBAS, social media platform, etc. Under the scheme, PMKVY Monitoring Committee reviews and formulates a framework for monitoring issues of the stakeholders. Also, the Committee has formulated a penalty grid (approved by Steering Committee for PMKVY) for taking action against erring / non compliant training centres / stakeholders. Based on the penalty grid, the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), the implementing agency of PMKVY under MSDE, has suspended training centres for non-compliance of PMKVY guidelines on multiple parameters. The list of the suspended training centres is published on PMKVY official website. As on 01.10.2019, 298 TCs/TPs have been suspended across the different locations.   

This information was given by the Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Shri R.K. Singh in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

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SK/TFK