Shillong, March 8: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Friday inaugurated the Skillerate Connect and celebrated the second year of the launch of Skills Meghalaya at the State Central Library, Shillong.
The event was done in collaboration between the Meghalaya State Skill Development Society (MSSDS), Department of Labour, Employment and Skill Development, Government of Meghalaya in collaboration with SANKALP – Skill Acquistion & Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Other present on the occasion were Shakliar Warjri, Minister Incharge of Labour, Employment and Skill Development, Dr. Vijay Kumar D., IAS, Chief Executive Officer, MSSDS, Challienkhum Songate, IRS, Principal Secretary Department of Labour among others.
While speaking at the event, Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma said, “Currently if you look at the data of the youth population that we have, on an average we have approximately 70,000 youth who are joining the workforce in Meghalaya every year, which means in a matter of 10 years we will have roughly 7 lakh youth who are employable in one sense and are in that age group where they can be in the workforce.”
“ Hence it is a huge challenge for the Government of Meghalaya to be able to create 70,000 job opportunities every year. From a mere 3,000 people in the beginning which we started off, today our target is to touch 1,20,000 youths in the next four years and in the next one year itself we will be training 22,000 youths. I am happy to announce and inform you that we will be spending forty crores from the government’s budget to help this program succeed, which means that none of you have to spend a single rupee to train or to get training,” he added.
Urging the youth to take advantage of the newly launched Youth Portal, the Chief Minister also said, “With the youth portal, you can now go through the different skills and different providers would be available and you can choose the skill program you would like to have. This is the beginning to ensure, to make the portal accessible, and allowing the youth to now choose what skills they would like to learn.”
The Youth Portal is designed to be a meaningful change for young people, serving as a single window for everything they need to navigate their future. It curates a wealth of relevant information – from educational programs and skill development initiatives to government schemes and youth-centric policies.
The portal also simplifies access to various government schemes tailored for young people. Whether facing career crossroads or needing guidance on specific opportunities, the portal provides access to a network of qualified counselors. The Youth Portal also bridges the gap between young talent and potential employers listing relevant jobs across sectors and providing the youth with employment opportunities.
Minister Incharge of Department of Labour, Employment and Skill Development, Shri Shakliar Warjri said, “As we all know, the unemployment rate in our state and the country is so much. To bring down the unemployment rate, if we wait for the government job, it is difficult. But we have to find our way out and must create such programs in order to see that our youths are being employed. I am happy to know that through this programme, we have been able to employ people, give them job opportunities.”
In his speech, Dr Vijay Kumar D., IAS, Chief Executive Officer, MSSDS said, “In Meghalaya, over the last five years, a number of skilling initiatives have been done. Efforts have been made under the PMKVY and other programs. This is the Pre Skills Meghalaya where the youth of the state have gone outside, gotten jobs in various industries, especially in hospitality, and services sector. We have now an empaneled list of seventy-five local skilled providers scattered across the state. We have, till now, covered more than 6700 people, but the vision is ambitious, now our target is to train 1.2 lakh youth over the next four years.”