In a major announcement for the unemployed youth, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday that his government will open a skill varsity for Delhi. In a press conference, Kejriwal said the Delhi cabinet has cleared the proposal for the Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University (DSEU).
While announcing the plan for the university, Kejriwal and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said once the Lieutenant-Governor approves the proposal, the Delhi government would make efforts to pass the Bill in the winter session of the Delhi Assembly. “Within a year of getting the L-G’s nod, we expect to launch this university,” Kejriwal said.
“The new university will provide a job guarantee to its graduates,” the CM said, adding that the university would collaborate with industries and companies. All existing Industrial Training Institutes (ITI), Polytechnic Institutes and Skill Centres will be merged with the university. The government said currently, 18 government ITIs and 44 private ITIs impart certificate-level training to around 15,000 students.
According to Kejriwal, the main focus of DSEU would be “to make students employable and the performance of the university will be measured in terms of the jobs that its graduates get”.
While the curriculum will be designed in collaboration with experts, the university will be “flexible” to the changing requirement of the markets. “Various governments have made skill centres but those centres did not adapt to the requirement of the market. Courses, once designed, remain the same for 25-30 years. The new university will design courses after taking into consideration relevant market research,” Kejriwal said.
Sisodia, who holds the education portfolio, said the department had done extensive research before announcing the university. “Studies were conducted based on other models in Singapore, Finland, Brazil, Germany and Australia to understand the system of skill education,” he said. Sisodia also said the university would focus on the research component in skill education and provide higher education opportunities to those who choose to study skill-based courses at the school level.
With an initial intake of 50,000 students, the university will offer various courses including graduate, undergraduate and doctorate degrees. Students, who have completed their class 10 and 12, can enroll in regular and part-time courses of durations ranging between six months and two years. He said the idea behind starting such a university was to address the lack of employment opportunities for the youth.
Manoj Joshi