The Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS) was launched by the Ministry of Textiles to address the trained manpower need of the textile and related sector.
Resource Support Agency (RSA) has been envisaged as a quality assurance arm of skill initiatives of the Ministry to develop a strong institutional mechanism for addressing the issues related to quality of training, standardization and accreditation processes, standard curriculum, content development, development of training material and modules, devising ways and means for assessment and certification etc.
The scheme guidelines lay down the formation of RSA with the following broad objectives:
RSA, primarily will coordinate with Sector Skill Councils and adopt/customize standards developed by SSCs as per the requirements of the scheme. It will cover all sub-sectors of textiles such as Spinning, Weaving and Knitting, Chemical Processing, Technical Textiles, Apparels, Handloom, Handicrafts, Jute & Wool and would provide the pedagogic inputs on quality control to the Skill Development programme of the Ministry.
Since the role of RSA best aligns with the mandate of Textiles Committee, a statutory organisation under Ministry, which is responsible for quality management in entire value chain in the textile sector, RSA has been operationalised with Textiles Committee. RSA has commenced its following functions towards streamlining the scheme and also align the procedure to meet the objectives of broad skill initiatives of the Government.
In order to study the Industry's requirements of skilled manpower, RSA conducts skill gap analysis for matching the demand supply matrix and define workforce requirements for each job role and skill sets.
One of the major challenges faced with the respect to the implementation of the scheme was lack of standardisation and uniformity in the sector specific course content and course duration. It was felt necessary to adopt commonly acceptable standards and courses under ISDS. Keeping this in view, RSA has developed syllabus for 44 standardised popular courses after in-depth deliberations and consultations with the industry and trade at four textile centers in the country.
RSA has prepared training methodologies for general training methods besides 44 technical courses developed to be adopted as per the requirement fo the textile trade and industry. The training methodology has been standardized keeping in view the different segments of industry requirement.
The assessment process under ISDS aims to test and certify the competency of the trainees who have been trained by the respective Implementing Agencies. The scheme provides for mandatory third party assessment of the trainees. With a view to broad base the panel of assessment agencies under the Scheme, Government accredited and professional assessment agencies has been empanelled by RSA. Further, to streamline the assessment and certification process, RSA has framed a standard protocol to be adopted by all concerned.
They can be studied by accessing the web page: www.textilescommittee.nic.in and scroll down to Course Content under Integrated Skill Development Schme.
The effectiveness of a training imparted is reflected in Assessment of the trained candidate (hereafter referred as Trainee). The term assessment refers to the wide variety of methods that trainers use to evaluate, measure, and document the readiness, learning progress, and skill acquisition of trainee. While assessments are often equated with traditional tests, there are diverse array of assessment tools and methods to measure effectiveness of training imparted. Assessments are also used to identify gaps in training and strengths so that trainers can provide specialized support, if required. While assessments come in many complex forms, and they are used for a wide variety of purposes, Assessment Protocol is used in evaluating a person to assess if procedures and standards are being followed properly according to set standards. Many governments, institutions and businesses adhere to protocols assessed on a regular basis.
Various Implementing Agencies (IAs) are providing training under ISDS of Ministry of Textiles, Government of India. In the pilot phase of the ISDS program many of the IAs were using MES courses for training. And also a lot many IAs were using their own developed courses for training. For uniform implementation skill development training, there was a need for popular and standardized uniform courses. These popular and standardized courses are utilized across all training centres run by IAs for imparting training. In this connection RSA, in consultation with industry has developed and standardized 41 popular courses called RSA courses.