Management & Entrepreneurship and Professional Skills Council (MEPSC)

28.10.2023

Management & Entrepreneurship and Professional Skills Council (MEPSC) , Daily Current Affairs , RACE IAS : Best IAS Coaching in Lucknow 

Why in the news?

  Management & Entrepreneurship and Professional Skills Council (MEPSC) recently entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Magic Bus India Foundation, a leading non-profit organization in the education and skilling space.

About the Management & Entrepreneurship and Professional Skills Council (MEPSC):

• It is a horizontal Sector Skill Council (SSC) incorporated as a Section-8 (Not for Profit Company) under the Companies Act, 2013, in a one of its kind, Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.
• The Council has been working under the tutelage of the Ministry of Skill Development.
• It is being promoted by All India Management Association (AIMA), the apex body of management profession in India, as its sole promoter.
• It is recognised as an awarding body by the skills regulator, the National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET), and is supported by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).
• It is targeting to train and certify approximately 4.75 lakh trainees, develop and frame 50 Qualifications Packs (QPs)/National Occupational Standards (NOS), and train more than 550 trainers over the next 10 years.
• It shall lead skill development initiatives in five key segments, namely

1. Training and Assessment
2. Office Management
3. Professional skills (including Security)
4. Non-Teaching job roles in the education Sector
5. Entrepreneurship

• The MEPSC Board is composed of several equally renowned and experienced business leaders, academicians, NSDC, AIMA, and Ministry officials.

About Magic Bus India Foundation:

• It is one of the leading NGOs in the education and skilling space in India.
• Over 24 years, the organisation has established its presence across 24 states and UTS of India. Magic Bus works with young people from underserved communities between the age group of 12 to 25 years, providing them with life skills and employability skills.
•  The NGO offers two distinct life skills programmes - the Adolescent programme and Livelihood Programme.
• The Adolescent Programme is designed to empower adolescents (12-18yrs) with life skills and education enhancement, ensuring they complete their secondary education.
• The organisation has partnered with 6 state Governments, to reach approximately 60,000 teachers and 50 lakh adolescents.
• The Livelihood Programme, with 95 Livelihood Centers, 825 college partnerships, and Entrepreneurship Incubation Centers, equips youths (18- 25 years) with skills that enhance their employability and enable them to enter the sustainable workforce.
• Over the past two decades, Magic Bus has empowered over 20 lakh young people (over 50% girl participation rate), enabling their transition from childhood to livelihood.

All India Management Association (AIMA):

• It was created as an apex body of the management profession with the active support of the Government of India and Industry in 1957.
• It is a not-for-profit, non-lobbying organisation, working closely with industry, government, academia, and students to further the cause of the management profession in India.
• It has a membership base of over 38,000 members and close to 6,000 corporate /institutional members through 67 local management Associations affiliated with AIMA.
• It is represented in a number of policy-making bodies of the Government of India and national associations.
• It offers various services in the areas of testing, distance education, skill development & training, research, publications, executive education, and management development programmes.
• Apart from its flagship Post Graduate Diploma in Management, AIMA offers topical and industry-oriented programmes and initiatives to help management professionals and students keep in step with the times while offering state of the art business solutions for organisations and institutions.
• It is frequently co-opted by the government on specialised committees.
• It is an active member of the Asian Association of Management Organisations (AAMO), which is the Asia-Pacific regional body of the World Management Council (CIOS).

Sector Skill Councils

• The Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) operate as an autonomous body and could be registered as a Section 8 Company, or a Society.
• NSDC is mandated to initiate and incubate SSCs with initial seed funding to facilitate their growth and enable them to achieve self-sustainability in a time-bound manner.
• National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship,has,so far, formed 37 Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) which cover all the major sectors to fulfill the skilling needs of their respective sectors.

Criteria to set up Sector Skill Councils

• The establishment of further Sector Skill Councils is based on multiple criteria like support from Industry for the creation of SSC, interest from Industry to participate in the activities of SSC, existing workforce of sector, need for upskilling/reskilling of the existing workforce, likely addition of new work in the next 5-10 years, etc.
• SSCs can also be approved if the target segment is special and unorganized but is sizable and needs skilling for better opportunities of employment, e.g., Skill Council for PwD, Domestic Workers Skill Council etc.7 SSCs are working for the needs of artisans/weavers/farmers.

Role of Sector Skill Councils (SSCs)

• The National Policy on Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, 2015 laid out the Skill India Mission, and envisaged the creation of Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) by NSDC. Priority sectors have been identified based on the skill gap analysis.

Functions of Sector Skill Councils (SSCs)

• Identification of skill development needs including preparing a catalogue of types of skills, range and depth of skills to facilitate individuals to choose from them.
• Development of a sector skill development plan and maintaining skill inventory.
• Determining skills/competency standards and qualifications and getting them notified as per NSQF.
• Plan and facilitate the execution of Training of Trainers along with NSDC and states.
• Promotion of academies of excellence.

Source:Business standard