NEW DELHI: To bridge the growing gap between the demand and supply of skilled manpower, the Labour Ministry entered into an agreement with a leading vocational training provider for imparting employment-oriented training to youths for the apparel and textile sectors.

The Directorate General of Employment and Training (DGE&T) under the Labour Ministry signed a 'Flexi MoU' today with the Gurgaon-based Apparel Training and Design Centre (ATDC) which would allow the latter to run customised courses in association with large apparel export houses and leading domestic manufacturers.

"The overall objective of the MoU is to provide for a framework whereby ATDC can run employment-oriented training for the youth at the national level," the ministry said in a

Noting that the MoU would help in three ways, the ministry said that, first, it will cut short many impediments in the nationwide implementation of skill-based programmes.

"Second, it will focus on changing technology being incorporated in courses and, lastly, more focus (may be given) to longer duration programmes with the support of DGE&T in tune with industry inputs.

"ATDC will have the freedom to develop such courses wherein the theory part can be taught at the training centre while the practical is done with the industry," it said.

The MoU was signed between Director General, DGE&T, Alok Kumar, and Darlie Koshy, the DG and CEO of ATDC.

The ministry said that the ATDC courses shall also be approved by the National Council of Vocational Training (NCVT), which would help the candidates get NCVT certificates.

"A special feature of the MoU is that ATDC will ensure employment of 80 per cent of the candidates in a batch," the statement said.

DGE&T has already entered into such MoUs with Maruti Suzuki India and TATA Motors in the automobile sector, Labournet in construction, Raymond in textile and Gujarat Industries Power Company for the power sector while an agreement was signed with Cadila for training of instrument mechanics.

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