Meghalaya is seeking to bridge the gap between vocational training and actual employment by exploring formal placement partnerships between Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), corporate houses and other agencies, with the State’s Estimate Committee asking the Labour Department to make job placement a priority for students graduating from government-run ITIs. The move comes amid a broader employment challenge facing States across the country, with the committee stressing that skill development alone may not translate into jobs unless institutional mechanisms are created to connect trained youth with employers.
Chairman of the Estimate Committee and MLA from Nongpoh Constituency Mayralborn Syiem said the committee reviewed various ITIs across the State, including those in Shillong, Tura, Jowai, Williamnagar, Nongpoh, Mawkyrwat, Khliehriat and Ampati, besides other locations. The review focused on ensuring that students have employment opportunities after completing their technical and vocational training.
Talking to Media persons, Syiem said, “We have reviewed the various ITI in the state with labour department, ITIs in Shillong Tura, Jowai, Williamnagar, in Nongpoh, Mawkyrwat, Khelieriat, Amapati and other part of the state to ensure that we have instructed department that after Students joins ITI and when they graduated.”
The committee has asked the Labour Department to explore the possibility of signing MoUs with various agencies for placement of ITI graduates, with the objective of creating a more structured transition from training to employment.
“The main issue is that the labor department we have instructed Explore possibility to sign an mou with various agency for placement,” Syiem said.
“This is very important with regard to employment for our young boys and girls,” he said, stressing the importance of employment opportunities for students completing ITI courses.
Syiem said placement should be prioritised for students who have graduated from ITIs across Meghalaya and whose skills could be matched with employment opportunities in relevant trades.
“Those who have passed out ITI, so we have instructed them to ensure that Placement should be a priority for those students who have graduated from various ITI in the state,” he said.
He said ITI training was only one component of a broader employment-generation strategy, which would also require financial support and encouragement for entrepreneurship through government schemes.
“Every state not a single agency or not a single person can fulfill every thing, ITI is one part of it, bringing financial support from outside the state, support proposed to entrepreneurs from schemes like CM Elevate, Prime is helping people as these are employment generation agencies. It’s is the culmination of all the department,” the Chairman of the Estimate Committee said.
Further asked, the Nongpoh legislator said unemployment remained a common challenge for States across the country and Meghalaya was no exception. He said the problem would require sustained interventions and could not be resolved through a single measure.
“Unemployment is the issue and challenge to all the state in the country, it’s a common challenge and even in Meghalaya also it’s a huge challenge. This problem cannot be addressed at one go, this issue cannot be solved over a night,” he said.
The committee has therefore pushed for MoUs with corporate houses and other agencies to create avenues for placing ITI graduates in jobs corresponding to the trades in which they have been trained.
“That’s why committe today we have instructed that MoU has to be signed with other corporates house, with other agencies in which the pass out or graduated student can be placed in various trade in which they are skilled,” the chairman added.
