The ‘Skill Hub Initiative’ under the PMKVY 3.0 focuses on the introduction of skill training programmes in the education ecosystems. The Initiative would consider the policy level synergy on integration of vocational education with general education as envisioned in the NEP 2020. The effort would also supplement the objectives of ‘National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship’ (NSDP), 2015.

Creation of sustainable skill Training Centres, phase-wise introduction of vocational courses in school curriculum in coordination with Ministry of Education through technical support, greater cross utilization of available infrastructure from Universities/ Colleges/ Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs)/ Polytechnics/ Schools, and further strengthening of District Skill Committees (DSCs), State Skill Development Missions (SSDMs)/ State Directorate of Technical Education along with handholding, strategic and funding support under the Skill Hub Initiative (SHI)

Skill Hubs are nodal skill centres identified to provide skill development and vocational training opportunities to target population segments from class 6-8th (introduction to world-of-work through orientation, industry visits, bag-less days), Class 9th to 12th (aimed at exposing students to skill development avenues), school dropouts, and out-of-education (aimed for academic credit, mainstreaming back to education and or apprenticeship and employment linkages).

Skill Hubs will be co-opted from the vocational system and education system with participation from MSDE, MoE (Department of School Education & LiteracyDoSEL and Department of Higher Education-DoHE), Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) basis agreed selection criteria including but not limited to the following institutions:

• Schools (Government, Government-Aided and Private)
• Higher Education Institutions (Engineering, Technical and General Institutions including institutions offering Language courses)
• Polytechnics
• Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs)
• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras (PMKKs)
• Private Training Providers (PMKVY centres, Fee based centres)
• Institutions under Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS) Scheme
• Other Skilling Institutions like RSETI, NIELIT, etc.
• Skilling institutions under MSME
• Corporate Skill Institutions

In full roll-out of SHI, the scheme is aimed at the following:

• Provision of permanent vocational infrastructure and resources for skilling
• To ensure contiguous availability of skill centres for ease of candidates
• Introduce vocational learning at an early stage with multiple well-defined pathways for candidates to continue with their chosen vocations
• Provide vocational offerings for target segments including in-school, dropouts and out-of-education candidates
• Align the vocational offerings at all levels with overall economic and local economy needs

The pilot scheme is aimed at the following:

• Provision of permanent vocational infrastructure and resources for skilling
• Driving convergence and integrated skilling across the education and skill ecosystems
• Step towards re-positioning the vocational education ecosystem from supply driven to demand driven
• Provision of 6-7 Skill Hubs per district in the pilot phase through 5,000 Skill
• Hubs
• Rationalizing the cost of short-term vocational training with de-novo costing

The ‘Skill Hubs Pilot’ would be implemented under central component of PMKVY 3.0 through National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) with the support of State Skill Development Missions (SSDMs), State Education Department/Agencies and District Skill Committees (DSCs). NSDC shall be responsible for operational aspects including registration on Skill India Portal, trainee life cycle mapping, portal-based IT support, Career Counselling solution, facilitate course material for training, advisory on the strengthening of Skill Hubs, Empanelment of Skill Hubs, Monitoring, etc. The PMKVY 3.0 Guidelines along with the SHI Guidelines shall be complied.

Training under the Skill Hub Scheme shall be imparted through Schools, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras (PMKKs), Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), Engineering Colleges, General Education Colleges, Polytechnics, Rural SelfEmployment Training Institutes (RSETIs), JSS centres, NIELIT centres and MSME Skilling Institutions and other Central/State institutions as the case may be.

The Skill Hubs being allocated targets in this initiative shall do the mobilization of candidates.

The Skill Hubs initiative in its final roll-out would offer NSQF aligned vocational courses for the following target segments of 15 to 45 age cohort:

• In-school students (Class 9-12th cohort);
• School Dropouts (Class 6th to 12th cohort); and
• Out-of-education candidates.

Skill Hubs will be required to follow the guidelines issued by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare: Ministry of Home Affairs, and Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship as updated from time to time and applicable central, state and local authorities, during the tenure of the Programme on preventive measures to contain spread of COVID-19 in TC. Please follow the https://www.skillindia.gov.in/ notices section for updated information.

As per PMKVY 3.0 Guidelines, the ToT will be done by respective Sector Skill Council (SSCs). Trainer registration is mandatory but ToT is not mandatory but desirable especially when private/contractual trainers are engaged under the SHI pilot.

Assessment and certification process shall be as per guidelines and norms issued by MSDE/NCVET from time to time.

Institutions including Schools and HEIs which are already offering skilling-based courses through their respective School Education/Technical Boards would have the flexibility to undertake assessment and certification as per their existing norms if they offer NSQF aligned/approved courses.

In the pilot phase, Skill Hubs shall offer short term courses / job roles based on Samagra Shiksha vocational courses, which shall be upgraded to ‘universal’ trades and local economy relevant trades in the next phases. Course material to non-MSDE Skill Hubs may be facilitated through direct sharing of handbooks or flexibility to choose from list of publishers including the National Instructional Media Institute (NIMI). Skill Institutions from non-education system may also offer National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) aligned employment linked courses.

You can find the list of job roles taught under skill hubs here https://www.pmkvyofficial.org/Find-course-of-your-choice

Candidate should be minimum 15 years of age as on January 1, 2022.

The duration of any course under Skill Hub depends on the Job role (180 hr-540 hr). Please refer to the link provided https://www.pmkvyofficial.org/Find-course-of-your-choice.

The funds shall be routed through NSDC directly to the Skill Hubs.Direct Payment shall be made to Schools/it is and institutes registered as TP on SIP. The tranches pay out under this Pilot will become due and payable upon achievement of the milestones, which are as under:

The direct monetary rewards to certified candidates shall be paid through Director Benefit Transfer (DBT) Bharat Portal.

Candidate level assessments are the assessments that are conducted by trained, certified and third-party empaneled assessors (through training of assessors -ToA).

A candidate can contact their respective training Centre to seek NOS wise detailed marks received. In case the Training Centre/ Training Partner denies provision of results for 15 consecutive days, the candidate may reach out to the concerned awarding bodies (details for which are provided in the annexure).

The assessment criteria applicable is defined below:

Any candidate who has successfully been trained by the training provider under the Skill Hub initiative is eligible to appear for assessments.

The Academic Institutions, Sector Skill Councils, Industry Bodies, Government ITIs or any other institution, independent bodies as identified and empanelled by National Council of Vocational Education and Training (NCVET) would conduct assessment.

The assessment fee will be paid directly by NSDC to the awarding bodies.

Any candidate who successfully passes the assessment is eligible for a Certificate and Marksheet.

The candidate can reach out to their respective Training Provider/ Skill Hub centre for receiving the physical copy of the certificate. For the soft copy of the certificate the candidate can access it via

• Candidate login on SIP
• Requesting the Training Partner
• Accessing their Digi Locker account

The candidate has various means to access their Certificate, however in case the candidate can either reach out to the respective Sector Skill Council. Email IDs of SSCs Assessment SPOC’s can be accessed at: https://www.pmkvyofficial.org/pmkvy2/faq.php?cat_id=61

The candidate can also choose to write to NSDC at grievance@nsdcindia.org

The NCVET empaneled awarding body would be responsible for approving the results

Yes, the candidate gets one time reward money post successful certification. The award money is INR 500 per candidate.

Cost of re-assessment is same as the training cost. Tranche 1 and Tranche 2 will be paid together in case of successful certification of candidate in the re-assessment

Allowed batch size in trainings under Skill Hub will be between 15-40 students. Meaning, minimum 15 candidates need to be enrolled in a batch and maximum candidates 40 can be enrolled in a batch.

You may contact your nearest education department office/ITI/PMKKDSC or designated skill hub in your area for enrolment in the program. List of skill hub can be availed at link below: https://www.pmkvyofficial.org/Find-Skill-Hub-Near-You

Training under the Skill Hub Initiative is free of cost.

• A candidate needs a recently updated Aadhaar Card to register/enrol in a skill hub
• Passport size photograph
• A candidate also needs an Aadhar linked bank account
• Details of last attained educational qualification

Candidates dropped out of a batch cannot be replaced by another candidate. They must be enrolled into a new batch.

The scheme mandates usage of Aadhar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) at training centers to monitor the attendance of candidates. Without Aadhaar number the candidate will not be able to mark their attendance.

Aadhar seeded bank account is mandatory for receiving reward money

In Skill Hub initiative wage employment, self-employment, apprenticeships and mainstreaming to education (academic or vocational) shall be considered equivalent to placements.

For immediate school dropouts, mainstreaming back to general or vocational education through credit / certification from NIOS shall be considered as placement.

A candidate is considered placed if the candidate fulfils the following conditions:

• Candidate is Certified and Placed.
• Candidates have been provided placement under Wage Employment, Self-Employment, Apprenticeship, or proof of re-joining mainstream education is provided.

Valid documents that need to be uploaded in the SIP as placement proof –

• Wage Employment: Offer Letter/Salary Slip/Letter of Intent/Joining Letter.
• Self-Employment: Declaration with implementing TP/School/Govt. Institution along with the candidate establishing the candidate as self-employed.
• Apprenticeship: Apprenticeship certificate/Stipend Certificate.
• Re-joining mainstream education: Admission Letter in prescribed format from joining institute.

The Placement Officer at the Skill Hub is required to sign up and generate the portal login credentials.

• Login to Placements Portal using placement officer credentials
• Select relevant details such as batch assessment date, training type etc to view batch wise candidate list
• Select the candidate whose placement details have to be entered into the system.

Placement is important for Skill Hub Initiative. It is important that Training Providers strive to achieve maximum placement of certified candidates. Placement percentage shall be later considered as a factor for overall performance. Nonperforming entities may not be considered for further allocations.

Schools can select courses from list of Samagra Shiksha (26 job roles with facilitator guide) or from list of PMKVY 3.0 job role. List of Job Roles are listed on the Skill Hub website.

MoU may be signed between School and VTP for implementation of Skill Hub.

No there is no specification on max-minimum distance of candidate mobilization from the Skill Hub. Students coming from other district/states are allowed to enroll.

AEBAS (Aadhar Enabled Biometric Attendance System) process shall be adopted in Skill Hub Initiative to ensure attendance.

Attendance is taken using an Aadhaar device and sent to the NIC backend server, where it is locally stored before being forwarded to the UIDAI server for authentication. When the candidate's biometric information is validated at the UIDAI server, the backend server sends an acknowledgment to the Aadhaar device. Attendance may be viewed and recorded in various formats on the Training Center portal for reporting reasons.

Users can purchase the AEBAS devices from https://gem.gov.in/ portal.

At this time, it is advised to ensure from the vendor that the device comes with the following technical requirements:

• UIDAI (API 2.0) with L0 and RD compliant.
• UIDAI Approved.
• Android 4.4. & Android 5.1 or above.
• BAS Windows Client version 7.1.0.1.
• BAS Application Client APK version 6.0.
• STQC approved FPS integrated Tablet.
• Safety net passed and unrooted.

*AEBAS attendance is exempted for North East States and Jammu and Kashmir.

Refer to the Media and Communication Guidelines.

Skill hub to check document at time of candidate mobilization and enrolment to ascertain if they are dropped out.

A maximum of two job roles can be selected in a Skill Hub. Skill Hub could start with one job role and another job role could be added at a later stage.

No, the reimbursement of biometric device shall not be done separately.

Yes, services from uncertified trainers can be utilized as ToT is desirable in SHI but not mandatory. Although Trainer Registration is mandatory.

Yes, schools can collaborate with VTPs to mobilize students in SHI.

No, transportation facility to candidates shall not be provided.

The scheme is planned to go live on the 1st of January, 2022 and close on 31st March 2022.

Skill Hub will have to procure the biometric attendance device. Users can purchase the AEBAS devices from https://gem.gov.in/ portal.

The remuneration of the trainer may be as per the costing recommended by the Skill Hub.

Yes, the FCSA may be utilized for training purposes in Skill Hub.

Aadhar is mandatory for candidate enrollment.

AEBAS is mandatory for capturing candidate attendance.

Skill Hub training time shall be after the school hours.

Please follow the link https://www.skillindia.gov.in/knowledge-bank to check equipment specifications as required in the Training Center for the Job Roles.

Please follow the link https://www.skillindia.gov.in/knowledge-bank to check trainer/classroom and lab specifications as required in the Training Center for the training.

Please follow the link https://nsdcindia.org/find-nsdc-training-centre to find the closest NSDC Training center.

Notional hours of training may vary for each job role. Please follow the link https://www.pmkvyofficial.org/jobrole for more details on notional hours for each job role.

Please follow the link https://nsdcindia.org/sites/default/files/files/ModelCurriculum-Trainer-QP-%2001-10-2020.pdf for more details on model curriculum for ToT.