Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham’s AMMACHI Labs, in association with NMEICT (National Mission for Education using Information and Communication Technology), conducted a workshop called, “Partners for Development of e-Content for Skill Development”on June 13th, 2014 at the India Habitat Center in New Delhi, India.This workshop was a significant milestone for India’s skill development industry. For the first time the various stakeholders of the skill development niche were brought together in a common arena to analyze and discuss critical issues. Industry standardization, content development, exploration of case studies and discussing the creation of a consortium for the development of e-content for skill development with the goal of a nationwide reach, were all topics of discussion.

Knowledge Share Connecting Major Stakeholders

The workshop was very timely. Historically, content developers in India have worked in isolation creating their own curriculum, content, quality standards and assessment criteria. However, through the NSDC’s (National Skill Development Corporation) efforts, a rapid standardization of skill development requirements is happening on a national scale. In collaboration with technologically powered and service focused organizations, like AMMACHI Labs, India’s future is ensured high quality and easily accessible skills training education.

No time to waste!

By 2015 India needs to train 2.3 million in new skills to meet the demands of expansion and development. With time ticking away and only 1.6 million trained to date, the government has to look at ways to streamline the skill development market. This workshop allowed professionals in the field of skill development to share, collaborate and discuss ideas to facilitate standardization and support the rapid growth needed in vocational education. Important recommendations and Shri. Praveen Prakash, Joint Secretary, MHRD (Director, NMEICT) and Shri. Pradeep Varma, Senior Consultant, NMEICT, MHRD sharing their thoughts on creating a road map for the future of Skills Development.

The workshop had wonderful support and was inaugurated by Shri. Praveen Prakash, IAS Joint Secretary and Director of the National Mission on Education through ICT. It was also endorsed by several important figures from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Laborand Employment, NDSC, several sector skill councils and private companies. 

The inaugural session was led by, Shri. Praveen Prakash , JS(TEL), MHRD. He presented the key initiatives of NMEICT mission and described their work in e-content development for secondary, higher and vocational education.  Shri. Praveen Prakash acknowledged AMMACHI Labs for its significant role as a leader in developing and delivering computerized vocational education packages, which include the use of haptic devices for skill development.

Many presentations were given by a variety of leaders in the field of Skill Development.

Major sessions held were:

1. E-content for VET- Needs, Present Scenario & Roadmap: Shri. Mahesh V, Principal- Innovation and Engagement, NSDC.
2. Role of sector skill council in skill development (NOS, QP and Curriculum): Ms. Meghali Prabhakar, Consultant- Standards and QA, NSDC.
3. Discussion-Engaging with Sector Skill Councils: facilitated by Shri. Ajay Balakrishnan, Manager, Content Development, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.
4. Case Study Presentation- Engaging with Sector Skill Councils: Shri. Deepak  Das, Content Development, IL&FS Education & Technology Services.
5. Content Development Initiatives of NMEICT, Wadhwani, NIMI: This session led by: Prof. Bhavani B, Director, AMMACHI Labs, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Dr. M. Radha Krishna, Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Shri. Ajay Mohan Goel, Skills Development Network, Wadhwani Foundation, Shri. A Mahendiran, Director, National Instructional Media Institute
6. Consortium Management Case Study: Prof. Kannan Moudgalya, IIT Bombay
7. Consortium Formation : Prof. Bhavani B , Director, AMMACHI Labs, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

Consortium Created with AMMACHI Labs in Leadership Role

The workshop concluded with all the attending organizations unanimous support for creating a consortium. A consortium with a mighty goal: to produce open source standardized content for course curriculum and haptic simulators to support the needs of skill’s development education.

We know what it takes to make things happen

Because of AMMACHI Labs vast experience both in building advanced simulators from ground up and successful e-learning curriculum design and development, the newly created consortium elected AMMACHI Labsto take a leadership role. This makes sense since AMMACHI Labs understands every aspect of the vocational education industry from start to finish.

Since developing Sakshat Amrita Vocational Education (S.A.V.E) project in 2009 AMMACHI Labs has developed and deployed over eight computerized vocational education courses in subjects such as: Plumbing, Fabric Painting, Artificial Jewelry Making, Soap Making, Two-Wheeler Maintenance, Mushroom Cultivation, Basic Sewing and Tie Making. Offered in Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada, and with-high tech haptic devices created to provide hands-on training without the need for actual tools and materials, more than 3500 women have been trained in the last two years alone.

It is exciting to see what will come out of the newly formed Consortium lead by AMMACHI Labs. We will keep you posted with new developments!