Lok Sabha Question No. 2324 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-01
Subject: Digital Skill Programme
Ministry: SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Asked by: Kripanath Mallah, Jaskaur Meena

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO . 2324 TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.08.2022

## DIGITAL SKILL PROGRAMME

2324.  SHRI KRIPANATH MALLAH:

SHRIMATI JASKAUR MEENA:

Will  the  Minister  of  SKILL  DEVELOPMENT  AND  ENTREPRENEURSHIP  be pleased to state :

- (a) whether the government propose to introduce a digital skilling program in the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) The details of the estimated amount under the said program;
- (d) The details of the targets set under the said program;
- (e) the details of the criteria set under the said program; and
- (f) the number of districts likely to be covered under the said program in Rajasthan and the time by which it is likely to be launched?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP ( SHRI  RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR )

- (a) : The Government has already introduced digital skill programmes.
- (b) to (d) : The  National  Skill Development  Corporation, under Ministry of Skill Development  and  Entrepreneurship  (MSDE),  has  created  e-Skill  India,  a  multi-lingual portal, providing e-skilling opportunities to the Indian youth. eSkill India works collaboratively as an e-Learning aggregator portal by establishing strategic digital skilling partnerships  with  knowledge  partners  to  bring  best-in-class  digital  opportunities  for  the India  youth  under one roof. These partnerships  have been instrumental in setting  up a rich  catalogue  of  digital-skill  opportunities  for  the  skill-seekers.  Right  from  trade  skills courses to Soft Skills, Life Skills, and Employability enhancers have been provided. Over 1400 digital courses have been catalogued on eSkill India. The courses spread across sectors, languages and domains. Most of these courses are free. The rich offerings have resulted in exceeding 1.8 mn enrolments on eSkill India.

The Directorate General of Training (DGT - https://dgt.gov.in) under the aegis of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has been striving ahead in this technological age by hand holding the youth across the country and at the same time ensuring  their  digital  skilling  and  industry  readiness.  DGT,  under  the  digital  skilling programme has launched the Bharat Skills (https://bharatskills.gov.in), a Digital Repository  for  skills  provides  NSQF  curriculum,  course  material,  e-learning  videos, question  banks  and  mock  test  etc.  for  CTS,  CITS  courses  in  the  ITI  eco-system.  This helps the trainers and trainees to have easy access to books, practice papers, learning videos which enable them to learn easily their topics outside the class. Also, National Instructional Media Institute (NIMI -https://nimi.gov.in) has developed a Bharatskills Mobile App,  where students can access the content and they can  assess  their  skills  through  live  mock  test  /  question  bank  and  simultaneous evaluation.

DGT in association with NIMI, has also developed the Blended Learning - digital vocational education and training courses to augment learning of ITI students across the country. As a phase-1, the courses for top 6 popular ITI trades under CTS scheme (i.e. Electrician,  Fitter,  COPA,  Mechanic  Diesel,  Cosmetology)  has  been  made  available. These courses are already hosted on www.bharatskills.gov.in. Blended Learning will act as  a  key  tool  for  trainees  to  acquire  new  skills,  upgrade  skills  as  well  as  to  test  their learning's, can be accessed anytime from anywhere from internet enabled devices.

Links  to  various  other  digital  skilling  programs  like  Employability  skills,  new  age courses relevant to Industrial Revolution 4.0 (upskilling) etc. have been made available to the trainees @ free by DGT in partnership with Tech Industries like IBM, Cisco, Quest, Microsoft etc through Bharatskills portal to make the trainees industry ready. At present, Bharatskills contents are being accessed by more than 34 lakh trainees.

FutureSkills  PRIME  is  a  platform  for  Re-skilling/Up-skilling  of  IT  Manpower  for Employability  and  is  a  collaborative  initiative  between  MeitYand  IT-ITeS  SSC  (Sector Skills Council) NASSCOM. The Programme would follow an 'aggregator of aggregators' approach  for  digital  skills  training  on  a  national  scale,  with  the  entire  platform  being hosted  online and  seeks  to  create  synergy and  collaborations between  industry, academia and the government. The digital learning platform seeks to build 'digital fluency' and provide certification in industry validated and government approved courses. Under the Programme, 4.12 lakh learners will get subsidised access to certified courses in any of  the  10  identified  emerging  technologies  (Artificial  Intelligence,  Internet  of  things,  Big Data Analytics, Robotic Process Automation, Additive Manufacturing/3D Printing, Cloud Computing, Social & Mobile, Cyber Security, Augmented/Virtual Reality and Blockchain).

The Ministry of Education launched an initiative 'YUKTI 2.0' in June 2020 to help systematically  assimilate  technologies  having  commercial  potential  and  information related to incubated start-up in the higher education institutions.

(e) & (f) : The digital skilling initiatives of MSDE are available for all across the country and the trainees can access the online portal by 24 X 7.

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