Celebrate Skills

We are always enthralled by people who exhibit excep-tional talent in skills, be it basic skills like swimming, driv-ing, singing, climbing trees or new gen skills like making better presentations, selling ideas or core skills like team building, keeping the resilience or empathizing with oth-ers. Skills earn appreciation, repute, and rewards. In the present world, every skill is ‘marketable’ and ‘identifiable’. Most of us agree, we need, not only skilled doctors, engi-neers, teachers, technicians and plumbers but also skilled coconut pluckers, dog catchers, mobile repairers, porot-ta makers and so on. Skills should be liberating, helping individual to transcend the boundaries set by societal structures like caste, class and gender. It should help the individual and the society to grow together.

I have felt that though the Kerala Society realizes the importance of skillsets of each of these job roles, we are hesitant in acknowledging and rewarding the skilled workers. And hence, the status and prestige associated with different job roles vary in a pretentious society like Kerala’s. To resolve this issue, the acknowledgment of skills should be more loud and explicit. The value addi-tion should be defined in terms of increased efficiency and productivity leading to increased ‘customer’ sat-isfaction - be it for a lay man at a government office, a patient in a hospital or a student in a class room. It will also lead to increased customer satisfaction of tourists visiting the State, increased productivity of factories and companies, where our skilled people are employed, and better remittances from skilled personnel from Kerala working in various parts of the world. Then, as a society, we will start celebrating skills. Let the stakeholders asso-ciated with ASAP be the first to realize the importance of skills, acknowledge all sort of skills, and celebrate them. Let the celebrations be colorful and loud. Let us make the ‘hall of fame’- boards of fame - of each school and college be filled with not only the names and photos of students who score the highest marks in annual exams, but also with those who excel in various vocations, later including those who made their mark as entrepreneurs.

Celebrate Skilling

Being the facilitators or providers of skill is something to cherish in itself. Through this, we are becoming part of a great social intervention which will grow larger and deeper. Along with skills, it is inevitable that skilling also be acknowledged and celebrated. With this conviction, the days in ASAP would be more cheerful and colorful. Along with this, we must also develop a respect for all kinds of skilling that happen around us, most of it in in-formal settings; at home, in agricultural fields, in mar-kets, during journeys – everywhere that skilling happens. Our mission would be to set up formal settings as well to support skilling. This is important as the chances to get skilled in the areas of interest are not the same for everyone. Once the opportunities are made available and accessible, individuals will start pursuing them. They will be rewarded, and through them, our communities will be enriched.

The number of schools expressing eagerness to join ASAP is a testimony of the fact that more and more people are starting to acknowledge skills. The energy gathered from the skill fests and flash mobs should translate into the identification of students who are keen to have a set of definite skill sets. The reasons for that need may be different. But if we identify students with aptitude and attitude, the entire skilling cycle will be much productive. Every Programme Manager should take personal inter-est in convincing institutional committees/members on the importance of enrolling their students in the ASAP batches. ASAP students should not mean that they are poor or behind in academics. Rather, it should mean a batch of students who are keen to acquire a set of new skills and are ready to walk an extra mile for acquiring them. Again and again it is proved that a serious effort by the institutional committee in selecting the students of ASAP batches will lead to increased participation of students in skill classes and in OJT centers. This will en-sure increased attendance in internships and placement drives. Let us all be ready to walk that extra mile along with those who are keen to get skilled. Let us celebrate skilling.

Dr MT Reju , IAS Chief Executive Officer, Additional Skill Acquisition Programme

Aug 2017 | ISSUE 07 01

Dr MT Reju , IAS Chief Executive Officer, Additional Skill Acquisition Programme

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Notes from Team LeaderSkill Courses - from being additional to becoming a part of mainstream academics – ASAP’s journey into the Universities

Focused and systematic efforts of the University Integration team over the past few weeks have helped ASAP to achieve new milestones in integrating skill-based courses in regular curricular activities of the Universities in Kerala. What started as a modest attempt in two colleges of the MG University during 2016-17 is maturing into a full bloom in the present year with more Universities joining the process. The APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University has passed orders to introduce ASAP skill courses as B.Tech Minor Programmes with 12 credits spread over four semesters from this year onwards. As part of this, NSQF level 4 courses like CAD for Plastic Products and Mould Design will be introduced for the fourth semester students from September 2017 onwards. This is going to be new model of intervention in Engineering education in the country. The early efforts taken for this by Dr.K. Bindukumar and Dr. S. Rajookrishnan are deeply appreciated.

The University of Kerala, for the first time in the state, will offer ASAP skill courses to Post Graduate Students with credits separately included in the marklist issued by the University. ASAP has also initiated efforts to offer skill courses to the students of the University Institutes of Technology (UITs) from this year onwards. Apart from this, discussions are also on to introduce DOT model skill courses in the affiliated colleges of the University. Similarly, preliminary discussions have been completed to introduce ASAP courses in Calicut University, Kannur University, Malayalam University and Sree Sankara University. More colleges under the MG University will join the DOT model during the present year.

The year 2017-18 is going to be a crucial year for University Integration efforts when ASAP will dissolve into the fabric of the University education rather than being an additional component of the mainstream academic activities.

S.Rajendran NairAdditional Secretary and Team LeaderAdditional Skill Acquisition Programme

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Spring time in the beehive – the blossoming of ASAP sectors

Large rivers begin as a trickle from the mountain slopes and this happened in ASAP’s industry sectors too. If ASAP skill training started in a modest manner with the offering of the Foundation module comprising Communicative English and essential IT, it took only a while for the skill modules relating to industry sectors develop gradually but in a steady manner. For Heads of Divisions who started drawing contours of ASAP skill courses, it was part of beehive building and establishment of a robust skill training mechanism. Constant brainstorming by the team much beyond normal work hours helped the team to evolve a credible and a fool-proof system of skill courses.

When Programme Managers joined the heads in individual divisions, a process flow was already in place for the formation of skill batches, offering of skill courses and facilitation of industry internships. Slowly and gradually a carefully designed model for the delivery of skill modules was in place thereby complementing the Foundation Module. Several rounds of iteration by the team helped ASAP arrive at a final shape for the skill courses to be delivered. A chain of events starting with Request for Proposal (RFP) culminating with the signing of MoU with capable Training Service Providers took shape for the first time. This became an annual activity during the start of every ASAP skill year.

ASAP crossed another milestone in the year 2014 when it qualified for a 1 million dollar USD developmental assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). This was a result of systematic and painstaking efforts started from early 2013 when the programme was in a nascent stage and was being constantly sculpted by Dr K M Abraham himself. I was fortunate enough to start the early work of preparing a proposal for the ADB loan until Shri. Anil Prasad joined the team from the Finance Department of the Government of Kerala.

The expertise of Shri. Anil Prasad in crafting the loan proposal and the professional guidance from Dr. K.M. Abraham IAS then Principal Secretary of Higher Education helped the team present itself before the ADB. Shri. George Thomas, then Team Leader played a key role too in putting things in place for the loan application process and its approval.

Loan proposal submitted to the ADB was only the begin-ning of a long relation with a team of people especially Shri. Shamit Chakravarthi, a man with a simple smile and a genuine approach. ADB loan process was a prolonged one with brainstorming within the team as well formal interactions with the ADB team who visited the ASAP HQ as part of the loan processing. And when the final presentation of the proposal was made in New Delhi by the ASAP team led by Dr. Abraham, it was only a formality for the ADB to formally decide to support ASAP. Here onwards ASAP started charting a new route towards skill development in the state.

Dr KP Jaikiran Head Curriculum Design & Logistics SectorAdditional Skill Acquisition Programme

B e e h i v ethe blossoming of ASAP sectors

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Dr . S Rajookrishnan

Management studies after Higher Secondary

An organization or a company whether it be one in the Public Sector or in the Private Sector, engaged in a business, would always like to run it in the most effective manner so that the company attains the targeted outputs, and also make the organization a profit making one. Never would one like to see the outputs and profits dropping over that of the previous year.

In order to run the business successfully, every organi-zation or company requires efficient managers to run the show. Managers are expected to be skilled people, who have the ability to supervise and manage the activities in an organization to run it in the most efficient manner to increase its output and profits. They have to find the best solution to the issues faced by the organization, and have to ensure that the job at hand is completed at the earliest. Managers should be able to look into the minutest aspects of the issue at hand.

Managers can work in different areas, as per the aptitude and interest of the individual. The areas of specializations include management specializations such as Account-ing, Biotechnology, Brand, Business Analytics, Business Process, Communication, Construction, Co-operative, Customer Relationship, Dairy, Decision Sciences, Design, Disaster, Economics & Social Sciences, Energy, Entrepreneurship, Environment, Event, Export, Facility, Fashion, Finance, Healthcare, Hospital, Hotel, Human Resources, Industrial, Information Systems, Infrastructure and Real Estate, International Business, Knowledge, Logistics, Luxury, Marketing, Oil and Gas, Operations, Organizational Behaviour and Strategy, Pharmaceutics, Port, Product, Production, Project, Public Policy, Quality, Retail, Risk, Rural, Shipping, Sports, Strategy, Supply-Chain, Tea, Telecom, Textile, Tourism, Training etc.

A good manager needs different skills to excel in the field. It can be soft skills as well as hard skills. A good manager should be calm, self-motivated, should have integrity, should be dependable as well as reliable, flexible, confident, organized and should be optimistic. The manager should respect and value others and should also be a good team player.

In relation to the business being handled, a good manager should have thorough knowledge on the industry and the organizational hierarchy should be assertive, with a clear idea on when and to whom tasks are to be delegated with the specifics of the task, legal implications of activities happening around, an idea on money management etc.

Excellent written and oral communication skills, willingness to be a good listener, the readiness to take up constructive feedback, also will make one a good manager. Overall, a good manager will always be result-oriented.

There are different stages in one’s academic march when one can turn to management education. Majority of the Management Programs need an Under Graduate Degree for the aspirant. However, there is a course in the field of Management Education open to students who have completed Plus Two.

Indian Institute of Management, Indore, conducts a Five-Year Integrated Program in Management (IPM), which usually commences in August every year. It is an innovative, unique and creative program to meet the aspirations of young students, who have passed class XII / Higher Secondary or equivalent, to become management

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the blossoming of ASAP sectors

professionals, change agents and societal leaders. The program is designed to provide intellectual maturity, a holistic education, and lay foundations of leadership qualities in the students so that they can craft a career of their own choice and make a difference to themselves and society.

Applicants should have passed Class XII/Higher Secondary/equivalent examination scoring at least 60% marks (General & OBC NCL)/55% marks (SC/ST/PWD (DA)), in standard X/SSC and standard XII/HSC or equivalent examinations and should be of maximum of 20 years of age (22 years for SC/ST/PWD), as on July 31 of the year of admission.

Selection is on the basis of overall performance in (i) Aptitude Test and (ii) Written Ability Test (WAT) and Personal Interview (PI).

Aptitude Test will have 100 objective-type questions from Quantitative Ability and Verbal Ability to be answered in 75 minutes and 45 minutes respectively. Each question will carry 4 marks. For each incorrect answer, 1 mark will be deducted. Aptitude Test Score will be computed out of 100 with 65 marks for Quantitative Ability Section and 35 marks for Verbal Ability Section. Sample questions from previous year’s question paper are usually provided at www.iimidr.ac.in.

Shortlisting for WAT and PI is done, considering candidates having positive raw scores and a minimum mark (category-wise), in each of the two sections of Aptitude Test. A consistent and minimum perfor-mance in the different parameters of PI, as decided by Admissions Committee is expected from candidates. Candidates not meeting the minimum performance in any of PI parameters will not be considered for the next stage of selection process.

Category wise merit list will be generated based on Composite Score (CS) to be computed by giving a weightage of 50% for Aptitude Test Score (ATS), 35 % for PI and 15% for WAT.

The batch size is 120. Seats are reserved for SC (15%), ST (7.5%), OBC NCL (27%) and PwD (3%).

The five year program spread over 15 terms, (3 terms of 3 months each year), would provide students, an in-depth exposure to all areas of Management and support areas like Economics, Mathematics, Sta-tistics, Social sciences, Biological sciences, History, Psychology, Languages, Literature etc. The first three years focus on building a foundation, and the last two, focuses on Management. The foundation has three major elements. Courses in Mathematics, Statistics

and Economics build analytical rigour. Courses in Psychology, Sociology and Political Science along with courses in Economics provide an understanding of the core disciplines on which the study of management is based. Courses in Science, Engineering, Humanities, Literature and Fine Arts provide breadth and perspective. A combination of analytical rigour and wide exposure equips IPM students for leadership roles and positions of responsibility in different sectors.

After 3 years of intensive study of Foundational disciplines, the students train as managers along with the participants of the institute’s 2 year Post Graduate Program in Management, undertaking the same course package in management studies in the 4th and 5th years.

At the end of fifth year, students will be awarded the In-tegrated Diploma in Management (IDM) by IIM, Indore.There is no exit option during the program. A student has to meet specified academic requirements to qualify for promotion to the next year and the award of Diploma at the end of the fifth year.

All the students are required to work with a social organization (NGO/CSR) as social internship at the end of the third year, to sensitize them towards the social issues prevailing in the society and to make them understand the need of inclusive growth.

Students would have adequate time to pursue a distance education under graduate course of their choice to qualify for a degree. However, the participants have to take their own initiative in terms of registration for such a program. The fees and other related expenses to fulfil the academic requirements of the chosen program will have to be borne by them.

For enquiries, one may contact the ‘Admissions Office, Indian Institute of Management, Indore Rau-Pithampur Road, Indore, Madhya Pradesh -453556 [Tele: 0731-2439 686 / 687 Email: ipmadmissions@iimidr.ac.in]Website: www.iimidr.ac.in

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STATE LEVEL INAUGURATION OF SKILL PROGRAMMES FOR 2017-18 :-

July 15th State level inauguration- Thrissur IASE Campus was resplendent with elaborate decoration for the State Level Inauguration of Skill Training 2017-18, held on July 15th, 2017. Hon. Education Minister Prof. Shri C Raveendranath inaugurated the function, chaired by Hon.Thrissur Corporation Mayor Smt. Sjitha Jayarajan. The programme was felicitated by Smt Manjula Arunan - Education Standing Committee Chairman, Dr PP Prakashan-Director DHSE, Dr Leena Ravidas- Assistant Director VHSE.

In his inaugural speech, Hon Minister emphasized on holistic development of students and stressed on the inclusion of skill based value addition along with regular curriculum. He declared that Govt. through Pothu Vidyabhasa Samrakshana Yajnam is aiming in developing a new skilled generation. He also praised the efforts taken by ASAP in the field of Skill De-velopment and added that ASAP will brace the implementation of NSQF from class 8 in school education. He advised students to learn the skill with the heart so that what they learn willbenefit them as well as the society.He stressed on training students based on their aptitude and interest .

Minister also inaugurated the Skill Expo where the exhibits enthralled all; Hon. Minister congratulated the students for their efforts. A flash mob by ASAP students added glamour to the event. All dignitaries wished ASAP a great skill journey expressed through their words on the skill canvas.

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RDD Meeting at HQ -July 5th

FICCI - ASAPIndustry Meet Thrissur July 14th

ASAP HeadQuarters on June 5th. The Meeting was chaired byDr Reju MT CEO ASAP and DHSE Director Dr Prakashan delivered the keynote address. The meeting was to encourage more institutions to join hands with ASAP and to ensure implementation of ASAP programme in maximum Govt. & Aided Higher Secondary Schools. The meeting also enlightened RDDS on the working of ASAP. This also gave an opportunity for District Programme Mangers of ASAP to discuss some critical challenges they face at field level implementa-tion of the programme.

INDUSTRY MEET - ORGANIZED BY FICCI IN COLLOBORATION WITH ASAP:-

ASAP, in association with FICCI, conducted a round table meeting at Thrissur on July 14th. Mr PM Riyas, Head Strategy (ASAP) on

July 14th. Mr PM Riyas, Head Strategy (ASAP) welcomed the guests and emphasized on the intervention of Industry in Skill training. The Presidential address was delivered by Mr CA Saleem, President, Chamber of Commerce, Thrissur. Mr Jaikiran, Head Curriculum (ASAP) briefed the participants on Skill Landscape and elaborated on the concept of ASAP. The participants included leading industrialist from Thrissur region.Mr Deepak Aswani,-Co-Chair FICCI delivered the key note address on the role of industry in Skilling and apprenticeship. Thereafter the floor was opened to discussion. The discussion was focused on internship, Skill gap and programme identification and demand aggregation.

BE SKILLED BE RELEVANT – OPEN CONTEST BY NATIONAL SKILLS NETWORK :-

NSN in connection with World Skills Day organized an open video and write up contest on skill learning. ASAP Skill Development Executive, Mr.Jeevan U and Dr. Fazeena Khadir were among the top 10 par-ticipants in the NSN Competition. The write up by Mr Ipe George SDE, was listed among the 15 commendable entries.

MEETING OF REGIONAL DEPUTY DIRECTORS OF HIGHER SECONDARY DEPARTMENT :-

Meeting of Regional Deputy Directors of Higher Secondary Department has conducted at

MOU SIGNING WITH SOFT SKILL AGENCIES :-

ASAP signs MoU with TMI E2E, 4tune factory and Times centre for learning to provide soft skill training for ASAP stakeholders.

Saman, a plus two humanities student at GHSS Thalapuzha was an average student for whom the future was yet undecided during his studies. He had no clarity on what to do next. And then he heard about the Summer Skill Skool Programme offered by ASAP and reluctantly applied for the selection process out of pressure from the family and because his friends were applying. He was selected and enrolled for the Food and Beverage Service Steward at SDC GVHSS Mananthavady. The bitter taste towards a course that taxed dear-ly from the summer vacation fun time soon turned into tolerance and then passion as the course progressed and he attended more and more practical sessions. A large world of pos-sibilities had opened up before him and when he expressed his desire to get placed in a job rather than take up the academic path, ar-rangements were made by ASAP PMs for an interview, and within weeks of completing his course he was placed as Steward at Paragon Hotel Group Calicut. “In no time within a week of my course com-pletion I attended the interview of Paragon Hotel Group Calicut, and found me placed as Steward. Now I am planning for higher stud-ies in the same sector preferably a Bachelor’s degree in Hotel Management next year. I sin-cerely thank ASAP for helping me identify

my passion and for guiding me.”

Saman KV

PLACEMENT CORNER

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WORLD YOUTH SKILLS DAY CELEBRATION – SKILL FEST IN ASAP SKILL DEVEOPMENT CENTRES :-

July 15th, the World Youth Skills Day was celebrated in all Skill Development Center of ASAP as SKILL FEST. Industry Talk, Poster competition, Skill Expo etc was organized as part of the Skill Fest. Students as well as teaching community joined hands with ASAP in making the event a grand success. This also marked the launch of Skill Orientation Programme for 2017-18.The skill fest had a positive impact and promoted Skill learn-ing among students

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Hon : Minister Sri G Sudhakaran Hon: Opp. Leader Sri Ramesh Chennithala

Hon: MLA Sri Oommen Chandy Hon: MLA Sri K. B. Ganesh Kumar

Hon : MLA Advt Sri Sunny Hon: MLA Sri KK Ramachandran Nair

Hon: MLA Sri Mons Joseph Hon: MLA Sri CK Nanu

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Additional Skill Acquisition ProgrammeAddress: Floors -1 and 3, Trans Towers, Vazhuthacaud 695014, CV Raman Pillai Rd, DPI,Vazhuthacaud, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 695014