Introduction
MCM DAV College for women, the premier institution of north India has completed 50 years of its establishment. The Golden Jubilee Year was truly instrumental as we initiated several endeavours to take our celebrated institution to greater heights. Skill Development was one such undertaking that helped us bridge the gap between industry, entrepreneurship and employment. This programme was designed to enable our stakeholders to be job providers and to empower the youth by providing them with the requisite skills to stimulate the growth of the nation.
The National Skill Development Mission was approved by the Union Cabinet and officially launched by the Honourable Prime Minister on the occasion of World Youth Skills Day. The Mission was developed to create convergence across sectors and states in terms of skill training activities. To make our contribution to this national mission, we commenced in this direction.
Mahatma Gandhi held the opinion, “The brain must be educated through the hand.” Keeping this as our guiding principle, we incorporated skill development into our education system. With the objective to strengthen the supply chain of demand and skilled manpower, our institution held various workshops throughout the year. The Workshops on Organic Farming were one- of a-kind as we tried to connect our students to certain primary needs of human existence. Our participants learnt the art of agriculture, developed urban kitchen gardens, helped create awareness about it in various sectors and sold their produce at nominal prices as well. This helped them understand the dynamics of free enterprise and also added to the augmentation of national capital. A similar routine was followed with varied workshops on Web Designing, Anchoring, Photography, Content Writing, Food Preservation, World Cuisine, Translation, Life Skills, Safety, and Fabric and Jewellery Designing which were a great success academically and monetarily. Our students gained vocational skills and their innovative ideas helped them get an edge. With the existing vacuum in employment opportunities, skill development provides a ray of hope to all.
This sunshine will spread over to other sections and sectors as well. We will be introducing many more innovative skill development programmes this year, which will be beneficial for our students and the larger society as well. These programmes shall seek to create an end-to-end implementation framework for skill development which shall provide opportunities for lifelong learning. This shall include incorporation of Skill based courses in the college curriculum, providing opportunities for quality long and short-term skill training, by providing gainful employment and ensuring career progression that meets the aspirations of trainees.
With fifty-four glorious years of excellence as our history, and many more to come, we surge ahead to accomplish newer goals and achievements. Nurturing our students as individuals who are cognizant of their social responsibilities and challenges in the new world has always been our mission and shall be for all times to come.