Bhubaneswar: Odisha has emerged as a leader in technical education and workforce readiness, producing highly skilled manpower for both domestic and international markets. In a candid conversation, Bhupendra Singh Poonia, IAS, Commissioner-cum-Secretary of the Skill Development and Technical Education Department and Managing Director of IPICOL, speaks to Akshaya Kumar Sahoo of Deccan Chronicle & The Asian Age about the state’s evolving skill ecosystem, industry partnerships, new-age training modules, and vision for empowering youth through entrepreneurship. Q. How critical is skill development to realising the vision of Atma Nirbhar Bharat and Samrudha Odisha? A. Skill development and technical education are essential pillars for achieving both Atma Nirbhar Bharat and a Samrudha Odisha. Industries and investment require a competent, job-ready workforce, and Odisha’s biggest strength is its skilled manpower. Over the last decade, we have built a robust skill ecosystem with two key components — short-term skilling and long-term skilling. Q. What is the focus of your short-term skilling programmes? A. Short-term skilling targets school dropouts and trains them in specific trades aligned with industry demand. These are placement-linked, domain-specific programmes, enabling thousands of youth to get absorbed into various industries. Many companies also run their own high-end training and directly absorb trained candidates. It’s a market-driven model. Q. And what about long-term skilling? A. Long-term training is provided through 72 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and 35 polytechnics. These institutions offer two-year courses, producing highly sought-after talent, especially for the manufacturing sector. We’ve placed a strong emphasis on upgrading infrastructure, introducing new modules based on industry needs, and setting up Centres of Excellence within ITIs in collaboration with industry partners. Q. What are some new-age modules you’ve introduced in line with industry demand? A. We’ve introduced emerging trades like lift and regulator installation to meet the growing demand in high-rise construction. We’re focusing on robotics, Computer Numerical Control (CNC), and advanced manufacturing. Thousands have been trained in industry automation, with a 90 per cent placement success rate. Q. What has been the response from industries? A. The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Odisha’s core industries — steel, aluminium, and downstream manufacturing — have a high demand for skilled workers. Our students are not only absorbed locally but also by companies from countries like Germany, France, and Japan, which are setting up operations here. Q. How are you incorporating Artificial Intelligence and digital learning into your curriculum? A. We are offering free online courses and actively promoting robotics and coding. Plans are underway to introduce AI modules across all ITIs. The idea is to future-proof our workforce and prepare them for Industry 4.0. Q. Is the training ecosystem aligned with global mobility? A. Yes, foreign language training is a key component. Apart from English and Indian languages, we offer German, Japanese, and Spanish to enhance international mobility. Hundreds of our trained youth are already working in Europe and the Middle East with attractive packages. Q. Are soft skills and human-centric approaches part of the curriculum? A. Absolutely. Counselling, mentoring, and career guidance are integral to our skilling approach. These human-centric interventions ensure trainees are not just job-ready, but life-ready. Q. Hospitality is a fast-growing sector. How are you addressing its skill needs? A. We are actively skilling youth in the entire hospitality value chain — chefs, housekeeping, front desk, etc. It’s one of our focus sectors, and we’re aligning training with the government’s ‘Vision Document’. Q. Industry partnerships seem crucial to your model. How do they work? A. We have a two-way partnership model. Industries are allowed to use our facilities to train their workforce, and we also train students on their premises. This ensures alignment with real-time industry requirements. Major companies are co-developing labs and modules with us. Q. What are the challenges in skilling students from remote areas? A. Mobilising students from backward and remote regions is a big challenge due to a lack of information or facilities. We conduct counselling camps, involve local schools and Panchayati Raj institutions, and encourage exposure visits to ITIs. As a result, female enrolment has now reached 30 per cent. Q. How is IPICOL supporting skill development through industrial collaboration? A. As Managing Director of IPICOL, I ensure industry involvement in curriculum design and delivery. Many companies are managing our training centres. We provide flexibility and foster collaboration so that industries can train their manpower or vice versa using shared infrastructure. Q. Is there any evaluation mechanism to track the need for reskilling? A. Yes, we receive regular feedback from industries. Based on that, we’ve set up a ‘Precision Engineering Institute’ under the World Skill Centre in Mancheswar. Industries send their workers here for retraining on newer machines and technologies. Q. Are you redesigning courses to meet dynamic job market shifts? A. The job market is constantly evolving. We are upgrading the training of trainers, adding new courses, and giving students the flexibility to acquire add-on skills. This prepares them for cross-sectoral roles and enhances employability. Q. Is entrepreneurship also a part of your skilling strategy? A. Yes, we’re actively promoting ‘nano-unicorns’ — small entrepreneurs trained by us. We provide a seed fund of Rs 1 lakh through the department and partner agencies. Our focus is not just on wage employment but also on job creation. Q. What is Odisha’s annual skilled manpower output? A. From the government sector alone, around 40,000 skilled youth are trained every year. Including the private sector, this number goes up to 50,000. In the digital domain, we’re producing about one lakh skilled professionals annually. Q. Finally, what’s the biggest challenge going forward? A. Getting the right students with the right attitude, ensuring they stay in their jobs, and building awareness in under-served areas. We’re addressing these through counselling, residential training, and community engagement. Our mission is to create a workforce that not only finds jobs but creates jobs and contributes to the global economy.Bhupendra Singh Poonia, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Skill Development and Technical Education and MD of Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha Limited.
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