National skills competition to be held in Maharashtra in the runup to Chinese global event

February 19, 2026 /Posted byBandy EW / 0

– Ronita Torcato

Union skill development minister Jayant Chaudhary has agreed to a proposal by state skill development minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha to conduct a National Skill Competition by 2028 in Maharashtra on the lines of the Regional Competition being held in Gujarat.

He was speaking at the inaugural of the competition in Gandhinagar where minister Lodha made the proposal for a National Skill Competition in Maharashtra to prepare students globally.

This year, the World Skills Competition will be held in Shanghai, China. In preparation for the event, the Union Ministry of Skill Development and the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) have jointly organised skills competitions across the country, starting with Gujarat.

The Western Region competition held in Gandhinagar attracted more than 300 competitors from the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat. As many as117 students from Maharashtra alone participated in the competition. The next segment will be held in Noida, after which the finalists will participate in the international competition in Shanghai, China.

Students from six tech disciplines – Mechatronics, Electrical Installations, Electronics , Automobile Technology, Industrial Technology, Cyber Security and Social Security Technology – will be presenting their projects in Shanghai.

Two contestants from Maharashtra who participated at the international level in the last competition expressed confidence that the students will achieve spectacular success in this competition as well.

At the inauguration ceremony in Gandhinagar, Union skill development minister Jayant Chaudhary said India is a country of youth and youth power is central to the concept of a developed India and it is on this basis, that prime minister Narendra Modi is emphasising skills development.

Minister Lodha said prime minister Narendra Modi has increased the pace of skill development across the country by launching the ‘ PM Setu ‘ scheme.

It has been resolved to make India a developed nation by 2047 and the Skill Development Department will play a major role in this,he said. He also took note of the successful implementation of various schemes in the state under the guidance of Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Post Views: 187

Add comment Cancel reply

Media Bytes

“An uneducated Indian is not a free Indian. India’s education system remains trapped in regulations that reward compliance over learning and scarcity over opportunity. The solution to exam leaks, coaching factories and unemployability is not more licensing, but more supply. We need more schools, more colleges, more competition and more education entrepreneurs. A 21st-century education must not only impart knowledge but encourage questioning. India does not need fewer cooks in the kitchen; it needs more cooks, more recipes and fewer bureaucrats guarding empty plates.”

- Manish Sabharwal, The Indian Express, (2/6)

India’s examination system rests on a foundational assumption that the process is fair, even when outcomes disappoint, and once that trust erodes, the system loses its legitimacy. This is not merely a technical controversy but a credibility crisis, because digitising evaluation is not the same as reforming it. Technology can assist evaluation, but it cannot replace the intellectual responsibility that fair assessment demands. The controversy has shown that technology has not removed subjectivity or error, it has merely shifted them into a different format. Educational institutions cannot run experiments on students whose futures depend on these results, and the obligation is to anticipate failure before implementation, not offer explanations after the damage is done.

- P John J Kennedy, The Indian Express, (26/5)

National skills competition to be held in Maharashtra in the runup to Chinese global event

– Ronita Torcato

Add comment Cancel reply

Current Issue

Media Bytes

From The Archives

Good business sense