One of the functions of National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) is to evaluate existing skill development schemes with a view to assessing their efficacy and suggest corrective action to make them more effective.

NSDA in, a technical collaboration with the World Bank, has been undertaking an evaluation study, which is currently underway, of five large-scale skill development programmes in five States representative of the range of economic developmental contexts across India. The study states include Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan. The following national schemes/Programmes are being evaluated through this collaboration:

• Skill Development Initiative Scheme (SDIS) of the Ministry of Labour and Employment;
• Aajeevika Skills Scheme of the Ministry of Rural Development;
• Rural Self Employment Training Institute (RSETI) of the Ministry of Rural Development;
• Skill Training for Employment Promotion amongst Urban Poor (STEP-UP) component of Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation; and
• Skill Trainings through National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) funded partners

In pursuance of the decision of the Cabinet Committee on Skill Development in its meeting held on 19th December, 2013, the National Skill Qualification Framework, a quality assurance framework, has been notified on 27th December 2013 under NSDA, which provides a tool for quality assurance of the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) system in the country.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Finance, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Quality assurance through National Skill Qualification Framework establishes a national TVET quality tool guiding evaluation of major skill development programmes. The National Skill Development Agency is conducting an evaluation, in technical collaboration with an international partner, of major national skill programmes across varied State contexts to assess implementation and efficacy and to recommend corrective actions. Concurrently, the National Skill Qualification Framework has been notified under the Agency as a standardized quality assurance tool for the technical and vocational education and training system to guide assessment and improvement of training providers and programmes.