Punjab Govt to launch skill centres for youth

Amarjot Kaur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 12

Dean, International Students, Panjab University (PU), organised a seminar on ‘Strengthening UK-India Higher Education Relations and Chevening Gurukul Fellowship’, along with the British Deputy High Commissioner Office, on Tuesday.

Around 200 students and faculty members attended the seminar. Dr Sandeep Singh Kaura, Adviser, Skill development, Government of Punjab, shared that the details of ‘Project Harvest’ which aims to hone the skills of the Punjab youth, with help from governments of countries such as the UK and Canada. Kaura talked about his experience in the UK after he qualified for the Chevening Gurukul Fellowship programme. He spoke about the advantages of the scholarship and how it helped him in developing his potential for his onward journey as an entrepreneur and as an adviser to the Punjab Skill Development Mission.

“I suggested the Punjab Skill Development Mission to run a pilot project to train the youth of Punjab with a global approach. For this, skill development centres will be started in Punjab. Two centres have been planned already and we have signed MoUs with British High Commission and Government of Alberta,” said Kaura.

Stating that ‘Project Harvest’ is going to be part of the upcoming Guru Gobind Singh Skill University at Sri Chamkaur Sahib, he added: “The three-year pilot project, starting from April 13, will aim at training 15,000 people of Punjab in skills such as hospitality, air conditioning, heating, refrigeration, construction, automotive, welding and plumbing.” He said for the government-to-government tie-ups, no funds have been sanctioned by the present regime. “However, we have received support from Canada and the UK. We are yet to sign an MoU with Canada. The tie-ups with various international agencies will be honing the skills of Punjab’s youth according to international standards,” he said.

Encouraging students to look for opportunities to study in the best universities of the world so as to improve their skills and in turn help the systems in their own country to improve, British Deputy High Commissioner Andrew Ayre gave a presentation highlighting the educational opportunities for students in the UK. He said: “India hosts the largest Chevening Scholarships and Fellowships country programme in the world. Chevening Scholarship offers financial support, along with opportunity to become part of highly-regarded and influential Chevening global network.”