Most of the government, government-aided, and private colleges in the region are apparently looking at ways to infuse quality into the skill training provided to students free of cost under the Naan Mudhalvan Scheme. Before the start of the 2023-24 academic session, the Higher Education Department had instructed registrars of State universities to ensure the inclusion of skill-based courses in the UG programs under the Naan Mudhalvan Scheme.
The Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation has developed 17 courses, including English Language Assessment and Certification from Cambridge, IBM Career Education, Digital Marketing, and Logistics for Arts and Science for UG students that are required to be handled during the second, fourth, and sixth semesters. There is, by and large, appreciation for the scheme though a good number of the colleges still face teething difficulties in incorporating the skill training into the already cramped schedule of internals, external exams, assignments, and projects, according to a senior professor.
“The scheme is important since it paves the way for deriving the optimal benefit of the country’s demographic advantage. While the massive upskilling program holds promise, it needs to be executed with a structured approach,” he said. Four credits - two each for two courses - require the students to spend four hours to undergo the training and take the exam online conducted under the aegis of Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation. According to a faculty engaged in training the students for a course under the scheme, the realization that the skill-development component is an essential part of the curriculum has not been set in fully among students as yet. Nevertheless, the students are beginning to understand that their employability hinges on the score they obtain in these skill-oriented programs, he said.
Through this massive upskilling program, the Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation offers domain-specific skill assessment modules to the users and helps them understand their skill gaps. The self-paced learning paves the way for acquiring newer and industry-relevant skill sets and building digital fluency in emerging sectors and professional skills through the availability of byte-sized micro-learning content.
