NEW DELHI, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide India's eastern state of Odisha a loan of 85 million U.S. dollars to improve the skill development eco-system, and establish an advanced skill training center - the "World Skill Center (WSC)" in the state capital Bhubaneswar.
An agreement to this effect was signed between the ADB and the Indian government on Monday, said an official statement.
The project will help over 150,000 people learn skills in priority sectors, including manufacturing, construction and services for formal employment.
WSC will deliver eight training courses for as many as 13,000 full-time students, provide training for 5,000 teachers, and train 1,000 assessors. It will improve the overall eco-system of skill development in Odisha by providing integrated services through an entrepreneurship incubation center, a career counseling and placement center, a curriculum design and development center, and education technology deployment center.
These important functions of WSC will support a network of government industrial training institutes (ITIs), and develop skills and capacity of polytechnics, college of engineering, and other private skilling centers.
The project will engage Singapore's Institute of Technical Education Services (ITEES) to support Odisha Skill Development Authority in setting-up and operationalizing WSC which would offer internationally bench marked advanced training programs for the working age population of Odisha, the official statement quoted ADB Country Director Kenichi Yokoyama as saying.
Besides, the ADB will also administer a two million U.S. dollar technical assistance grant from the "Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction", financed by the government of Japan, that will support capacity development activities under the project.
