AP needs 9 lakh workers in the next 4 years

Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC) conducted a meeting with principals and representatives of engineering colleges at Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, Nellore and West Godavari districts at VR Siddartha Engineering College on Friday. The meeting was to discuss the setting up of Skill Development Centres proposed by the State government.

APSSDC managing director and chief executive officer G Subba Rao said that AP would need around nine lakh skilled men and women in the next four years to build the new State as planned by the State and Central governments. “Out of the 9 lakh, 5 lakh skilled workers are needed to work for the development of smart cities, grids, industrial hubs and others, while 4 lakh skilled workers are needed for the IT industry,” Subba Rao said.

“Andhra Pradesh will face an incremental human resource requirement of approximately 10 million workers by 2022 since an entire capital will be built beside other developments activities in the State,” he added.

Speaking about the lack of skills in students as well as faculty, Subba Rao said 30 to 80 per cent of B Tech graduates in each college are unable to rise to the level of qualifying in a campus placement drive.

“Faculty in the colleges too are lacking several skills and they need to develop as per the standards of the century. The seven missions of the State government, namely primary sector, social empowerment, industry sector, infrastructure, service, urban development and knowledge and skill sectors, need human resources in large numbers,” Subba Rao elaborated.

Rao pointed out that IT exports from AP was a meagre 0.25 per cent of the country and added that 92 per cent of the employees in India were working in unorganised and informal sectors while in South Korea, 92 per cent of the workers were skilled.

He said that the construction sector will acquire large number of workers in view of the capital development. The number of students passing out in the State was 7,35,164, of whom 1,52,145 were in engineering while the rest were from degree and other professional courses.