Page 366 - economic review

EMPLOYMENT338

Recommendations of the Expert Committee

9.70 An expert Committee was constituted by the State Planning Board to make specific suggestions
on how best the State could take advantage of central schemes in the sector of Employment and
Skill Development during the 12th Plan period. The Committee, in addition to its mandated task,
has analysed the issues in the sector holistically and made 14 recommendations to enhance the
employment and skills in Kerala. Further the Committee has identified the areas of acute shortage of
skills the Kerala now faces.

Employability Centres

9.71 Department of Employment has embarked on an ambitious programme for converting the
Employment Exchanges into Employability Centres. Deviating from the convention of providing
opportunities to job-seekers, the Employability Centres will first identify the skill gap of the registrants
and then provide skill gap training so as to equip them to be placed directly in to the workforce.

9.72 Once a candidate is registered at the Centre s/he will be asked to appear for a three hour
assessment test to assess their IQ level, skill set, reasoning ability, language & communication skills
and over all personality, within two days. Thereafter, the candidate will be referred to jobs available
suiting to their profile if the candidate possesses the required skill level; otherwise he will be referred
for basic/ high end training programme. For high end course, the candidate will be referred to VTPs
(Vocational Training Providers), ITIs or other institutions based on the skill required

9.73 In pilot phase the project was launched in the district employment exchanges at Kollam,
Ernakulam and Kozhikode. Subsequently the Employability Canters have been set up at the district
employment exchanges at Palakkad and Kannur. During the current year the Project is being
implemented in Kottayam and Alappuzha. The figures furnished by the Employment Directorate
reveal that in the case of Employability Centres at Kollam, Ernakulam and Kozhikode only 6 per
cent of the total Registrants could be placed during 2013-14. However, the initiative for establishing
Employability Centers has to be viewed as a welcome step.

Job Portal for Skilled Professionals and skilled workers

9.74 The Department of Training has set up a Job Portal named ‘SkillJobs’ for facilitating employment
opportunities to skilled professionals and skilled workers. Over 20,000 skilled technicians are passing
out every year from various Government and Private ITIs from across State. This Job Portal will
enable them to register their resumes and update when they gain experience and new skill sets, free
of cost, so as to be visible for the prospective employers all over the world. They will get job alerts
and emails when a prospective employer shows interest. The employers from all over the world is
allowed to search and access the database after registering in the Portal with a nominal fee. The
Employers can then download those Resumes that match with their preferences on trade, skill-sets,
experience, salary expectations, locations etc. They can either contact the jobseekers directly or
request the Department of Training to facilitate recruitment process.

Initiatives under Kerala Academy for Skills Excellence (KASE)

9.75 A number of initiatives are planned to be taken up under the auspices of KASE, a State Govt.
owned company formed with the objective of facilitating mass human resource development through
specialized skill development courses across the state. Some of the initiatives proposed to be
undertaken in the near future are setting up of a construction academy at Chavara (Kollam) and
setting up of a Security Skill Academy.

Kerala State Planning Board