The Meghalaya State Skill Development Society in collaboration with SANKALP – Skill Acquisition & Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) yesterday inaugurated the Skillerate Connect and celebrated the second year of the launch of Skills Meghalaya at the Shillong. Addressing the gathering, Chief Minister Conrod Sangma said “Currently the data of the youth population on an average is approximately 70,000 youth who are joining the workforce in Meghalaya every year, which means in a matter of 10 years we will have roughly 7 lakh youth who are employable”. Hence, it is a huge challenge for the State government to be able to create 70,000 job opportunities every year, he added.

Urging the youth to take advantage of the newly launched Youth Portal, the Chief Minister also said that youth can choose the skill programme through different providers that are available on the Youth Portal. Chief Minister said that the government will be spending forty crore rupees from the State budget to help this programme succeed. Minister of the Department of Labour, Employment and Skill Development, Shakliar Warjri stated that to bring down the unemployment rate, such programmes must be created which help youth get employed at a large scale.

Chief Executive Officer, Meghalaya Skill Development Society, Vijay Kumar said, “In Meghalaya, over the last five years, several skilling initiatives have been taken. These efforts have been made under the PMKVY and other programmes, added Mr. Kumar.