The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed $80 million loan here today to help modernize technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions and improve the skills ecosystem in the State of Himachal Pradesh.

Shri Sameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary (Multilateral Institutions), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, signed the loan agreement for the Government of India, and Mr. Kenichi Yokoyama, Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission, signed on behalf of ADB. The Project Agreement was signed by Dr. Basu Sood, Adviser (Planning), Planning Department on behalf of the Government of Himachal Pradesh.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Khare said that the project will support the skill initiatives of Government of Himachal Pradesh and help the State step-up the reform and scale-up its skill development efforts. He further said that it will fund short-term and long-term training programs in growth areas including automobiles, electronics, pharmaceutical, tourism and hospitality and banking and financial services, health care etc. to help enhance the skills set of the youth and increase their employability.

Mr.Yokoyama said that after achieving impressive enrollment rates for higher education, the State of Himachal Pradesh faces ‘second-generation’ challenge of preparing its youth for the challenging labour market. He said that the Project will help in equipping the youth with market-relevant technical and vocational skills.

The State will need more than 500,000 skilled workers by 2022 across various trades. The Project will help seize this opportunity by providing support in developing relevant and good quality TVET programs thereby improving employment prospects of nearly 65,000 youths by 2022.

The Project will establish a polytechnic for women, six city Livelihood Centers, and seven Rural Livelihood Centers, and upgrade 11 employment exchanges into model career Centers. These efforts will result in improved TVET awareness among youth, modernizing training equipment, implementing a training information system, forging partnerships with private sector, and creating better access to quality market-relevant TVET and livelihood development opportunities for youth in Himachal Pradesh.

Loan agreement to finance modernization of technical and vocational education and expand employability programs for youth in Himachal Pradesh. An $80 million loan agreement finances a project to modernize TVET in Himachal Pradesh by supporting short and long term training across priority sectors, establishing a women's polytechnic, six city Livelihood Centers, seven Rural Livelihood Centers, and upgrading 11 employment exchanges into model career centers, alongside equipment modernization, a training information system, and private sector partnerships to improve employability of youth.