The city will host the three-day India Skills Kerala 2020, an event being organised by the Kerala Academy for Skills Excellence (KASE) and Industrial Training Department (ITD) to bring together young talents in the State, from Saturday onwards.
The event, being held for the first time in Kozhikode, is the final round of India Skills Kerala 2020, which will provide a platform for 253 participants to prove their eminence in 39 disciplines and win ₹78-lakh prize money. Besides, the winners would get an opportunity to participate in the national competitions and represent the country at World Skills 2021 at Shanghai in China, Labour Minister T.P. Ramakrishnan told a news conference here on Tuesday.
The competitions, aimed at highlighting the efforts of the State government in developing finesse and expertise in a wide range of skills, will be held at Swapna Nagari on the Mini Bypass. Technological exhibitions, open forums on a wide range of subjects, and cultural programmes in the evenings will also be held.
Thirty-nine competition categories have been listed for India Skills Kerala 2020.
The winner of each category will get ₹1 lakh as prize money, while those coming second will be given ₹50,000. Those finishing in the subsequent four ranks will get ₹10,000 each.
The preliminary district-level competitions of India Skills Kerala concluded on January 20. The competitions had 4,298 candidates vying for honours, of which 1,278 winners qualified for the zonal rounds held separately for the north, central and south regions of the State.
The age bracket of the contestants has been wide, as they include little boys and girls as well as adults.