Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) certification of 1500 employees of Rashtrapati Bhawan

Rashtrapati Bhavan supports Skill India

1500 Rashtrapati Bhavan employees get trained and skill certified through RPL under PMKVY across 18 job roles

by Shrutee K/DNS

New Delhi, May 14, 2016: The Hon’ble Prime Minister’s Skill India Programme is seeing implementation happen right at the residence of the Head of the State – the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship is ensuring implementation of this programme through National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and its ecosystem, by conducting Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) for 1500 employees at the President’s House across 18 job roles. 900 of these employees have completed their trainings today and got certified.

The Hon’ble President of India today met up with the employees who have completed their training in the presence of Ms. Omita Paul, Secretary to the President of India and Mr. Jayant Krishna, CEO, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).  

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is a process to evaluate skills and knowledge acquired outside the classroom for the purpose of recognizing competence against a given set of standards, competencies, or learning outcomes. It is practiced for a variety of purposes, for example an individual's standing in a profession, trades qualifications, academic achievement, recruitment, performance management, career and succession planning. This programme being implemented at Rashtrapati Bhavan, will ensure that the people working at the President’s house get oriented to their job roles, are assessed on their existing skills and then certified basis the National Skill Qualification Framework approved by the industry and the government.

The splendour of the Rashtrapati Bhavan is multi-dimensional and it takes many skilled workers to maintain the grandeur and the magnificence of the building. It is imperative that their skills meet the standards mapped with their current job profile. The programme has begun on April 11 and will continue till May 31, 2016. Various Sector Skill Councils and affiliated Training Partners in the NSDC ecosystem are involved in the process.

The course is customised as per requirement at the President’s house. Some of the job roles in which employees who will be certified are gardeners, drivers, room attendants, housekeeping, electrical works, plumbers, carpenters, painters, security guards, office assistants, data entry operators, cooks, laundry men etc.

Welcoming the initiative, Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister of State Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (Independent Charge) & Parliamentary Affairs, Government of India said, “We are grateful to the Hon’ble President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee ji, for letting us conduct RPL for the employees at his residence. Rashtrapati Bhavan is place of high repute and stature and is the house of the president of the largest democracy in the world. We hope this will inspire many other organisations in government and industry to get skill certification of their workforce done.” “A skill certificate brings a better life and respect for your profession,” he further added. There are batches that are created to train and certify the employees. Each batch is undergoing two days of soft skills training followed by two days of core skills orientation as well followed by assessment and then certification (monetary reward).  Training is being provided by senior trainers who are using multimedia based content to engage the employees.

The training partners involved in the process will first carry out pre-assessments on the basis of skill level of the employees and accordingly they will provide the training and post the clearing assessment process they will get the certification for the job role. Also, employees will be given monetary rewards for undergoing assessments along with skill India/PMKVY branded uniforms, training manual.

Mr. S Ramadorai, Chairman, NSDC & NSDA said, “The Skill India Campaign is seeing great traction with the introduction of PMKVY, the world’s largest monetary reward skill development scheme and through the Recognition of Prior Learning assessment mechanism. The Hon’ble President allowing us to do RPL of the employees at Rashtrapati Bhavan is great motivation for all. It’s a great way of giving recognition and respect to skills.”

On the completion of the process of 900 employees, Mr. Jayant Krishna, CEO, NSDC said, “It has been a very humbling exercise for us to train, induct and certify people under RPL who have been working at Rashtrapati Bhawan (some of them for 20-30 years now) in their respective job roles. It’s a matter of great pride for many here at a personal level to under a training in technical and soft skills, something which is a first time ever exercise for many. The response that we have received is extremely encouraging and we now see a more confident and skilled workforce at the President’s house.” “We are being invited by other organisation to replicate the RPL process and we are keen to deliver on their request in the best possible way,” he further added.

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) was introduced by the Government on 15th July, 2015. The scheme has a target to cover 24 lakh persons with training of 14 lakh fresh entrants and certification of 10 lakh persons under Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). More than 2 lakh enrolments have been done under RPL across 132 active job roles out of which 86 per cent have already completed their training, till now. RPL has been done in all 27 states across 223 district around the country through 23 identified Sector Skill Councils and 173 training partners. PMKVY overall has seen more than 19 lakh enrolments happen across 27 states in India.