The Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship has joined hands with the Indira Gandhi Open University on Tuesday in a bid to link vocational education and training with higher education. The partnership aims to further strengthen the vocational and technical training framework while making India's youth employable by creating avenues for them to access better work opportunities.

The trainees attached to National Skill Training Institutes, Industrial Training Institutes, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras and Jan Shikshan Sansthans will benefit from the programme, aimed at creating upward mobility of these students to be able to attain higher education for better livelihood opportunities.

"Under the partnership, 32 NSTIs, more than 3,000 Government ITIs, 500 PMKKs and nearly 300 JSS will be associated with IGNOU as Registration Centres, Examination Centres and Work Centres for hands on training," an official statement said. "Through the collaboration, students will now get an opportunity to join the three-year degree programme of IGNOU," it added.

A Project Steering Committee with representatives from both the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and IGNOU shall monitor and review the progress of the programme. The MoU is initially for a period of 10 years subject to renewal on mutual agreement. "This MoU is in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goal 4.4 and the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 for increasing Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education including vocational education to 50 per cent by 2035," the statement said.

Rajesh Aggarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship said India's young demographic dividend is the engine of its economic progress and needs access to meaningful pathways to receive quality education as well as skill, and vocational training. The initiative is aimed in this direction as it provides higher social and economic mobility to our youth, with requisite qualifications, he added.