“ Skill development is a major division of education. it is the most neglected part of our educational system. All our children of the under 14 years age group are supposed to attend school where they are to complete eight years of primary education.A large section of students who complete it go for secondory education and then to higher secondory. Out of those who complete 12 years of schooling government want to send 30 percent for higher education by 2020. Now it is only around 20 percent. The remaining 70 percent of young men and women go for various kinds of jobs in agriculture, industry and service sectors. Till recently most of them used to enter these jobs as untrained hands.

But with the fast advance in science and technology every job, not only in big establishments but even in medium and small industries, service instituitions and even in agriculture requires training for a long or short duration. It is this area which is now mentioned as skilled jobs for which skill training has become important and widespread. Now there is a central ministry to coordinate activities in that field. CTDS, the eminent skill training provider giving training in various courses.

I hope CTDS and experts will make a big contributition to the training of skilled manpower thus filling up a big void in the field of education„

SRI. C.P NARAYANAN

Member of Parliament, Rajyasabha