OSDA and ITEES sign MoU for skill development

BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Skill Development Authority (OSDA) and the ITE Education Services (ITEES), Singapore today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for collaboration on skill development in the state. ITEES is a subsidiary of the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), Singapore.

As a part of the MoU signed in the presence of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, 100 ITI teachers will be trained at Singapore at the ITE in 2018.  ITEES will share ITE's experiences in techincal and vocational education and training (TVET) and provide consultancy support to Odisha Skill Development Authority (OSDA) to improve the quality of skill development and vocational training. For a start, ITEES will conduct a two week training for leadership development for 100 leaders of government-run ITI institutions which are in the forefront of TVET in Odisha.

The programme aims to develop human and social capital, contribute towards community development and enhance capabilities for skill development and vocational training in the state. ITEES will also provide TVET consultancy support to OSDA on proposed advanced skill training institutes (ASTIs) formations for advance skilling of the youths.

Stating that the Odisha government is committed to the development of human and social capital for enhancing the capabilities of the people, the chief minister said the partnership will go a long way in fulfilling this objective.

Subroto Bagchi, chairman of the OSDA said the standard of Odisha's ITI institutions can be pushed up to global levels with the help of ITEES. Bruce Poh, the chief executive officer of ITEES said they are looking forward to a very long term collaboration between the two sides. Sanjay Singh, commissioner-cum-secretary in the skill development and technical education department and Poh signed the MoU.

Minister for skill development and technical education Usha Devi, chief secretary AP Padhi, representatives of ITEES Boon Tiong Lim, Grace Ke and senior officials were present.