A Quality Arm of ISDS

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, standardisation 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:

• Identification and finalization of skill development needs.
• Assessing the skill gap in terms of category of skill number of persons required,
• Building up skill inventory database for different segments of textile industry, skill-wise, region-wise.
• Development of curriculum, syllabus and duration of the courses.
• Standardisation of infrastructure required for the training.
• Standardisation of admission, assessment, certification and accreditation process to ensure consistency and acceptability by stakeholders.
• Accreditation of Implementing Agencies.
• Coordination with Project Management Unit (PMU), Regional Resource Support Agencies (RRSAs) and Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) and other key stakeholders.
• Smooth functioning and implementation of the Integrated Skill Development Scheme.

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.

Skill Gap Analysis/Skill Database

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.

Development of Curriculum, Syllabus, Course Centers etc

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.

Development & Standardisation of Training Methodologies

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.

Standardisation of Assessment Process and Online Generation of Certificate

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.