Chief Secretary Uttar Pradesh Launches Anuna Education Professional Career College in Partnership wi

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

Anuna Education, a Professional Career College, and National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) announced a partnership to skill & train over 1.10 lakh youths in Uttar Pradesh at a launch & press conference held today in Lucknow. The project was launched by the Chief Secretary, Government of Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Alok Ranjan. The Principal Secretary, Vocational Education, Govt. of UP, Mr. Bhuvnesh Kumar was also present at the launch, along with, Mr. Jayant Krishna, Co-Chair CII Skill Development Task Force, Mr. Jaikant Singh, Head Partnership and Alliance Monitoring NSDC, Mr. Gaurav Prakash, Co-Chair CII Young India, Mr. Arun Srivastava, General Secretary INSM Society, Dr. Manoj Dixit, Chief Proctor Lucknow University, and Mr. Amit Iqbal Srivastava, Founder Anuna Education. This is a 1st of its kind initiative by Anuna Education & NSDC to focus on entrepreneurship & general management skills that are need of the hour, especially in a state like Uttar Pradesh. Anuna Education will grant internationally recognized NSDC certificates from Level 1 (entry-level/apprentice) through Level 10, with Level 10 being equivalent to an International Doctorate. Anuna Education has freedom to design its own courses and also provide certification on the basis of work experience, thereby allowing many workers to attain even graduate & post-graduate level qualifications – this is a paradigm shift in how we think about skill development in the country. Mr. Jaikant Singh, speaking on behalf of NSDC, explained that the National Skill Development Corporation is a unique Public Private Partnership (PPP) whereby the Government of India holds 49% equity and the remaining majority is controlled by various industry associations & bodies. This is due to the fact that NSDC relies heavily on Industry participations in setting International level training standards and defining occupational standards for each job role across all industries. By 2022, India is expected to have an employable population of over 700 million youths. Out of this, some 347 million can be unemployable by various industries due to lack of skills and education. NSDC is charged with benchmarking skill development programs within India to International standards such as National Qualification Framework (NQF) used in the United Kingdom that provide an alternate certification based on industry specific skills and job role experience, and to skill and train over 150 million of India’s youths.

Certain basic skill-gaps present across all sectors, even in the high-pay IT sector. These skill-gaps include lack of English writing & comprehension skills, along with, critical thinking, leadership, time & project management skills. Hence, even though workers in India attain core-skills required for doing the job through various means, they still can’t compete with their global peers due to lack of general management & life skills. Hence in each of NSDC courses there is a focus to have 25% content in terms of soft skills. NSDC through its SSCs has created 722 qualification packs and approved 2200 occupation standards. Anuna Education found the right partner in NSDC with their focus on bringing about standards in the skill development space. The certification being provided by NSDC is based on National Occupational Standards (NOS) defined by the various industry specific Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) setup by the NSDC. These secured certificates are linked with a unique identification number for the candidate and are given for specific job levels, from Level 1 through Level 10. These levels correspond to entry-level certificates for basic jobs to Level 10 being doctorate or post-graduate, hence, even youths pursuing distance education and graduation programs from Tier II or III universities can also benefit. This also increases the employability of Indian youths who receive NSDC certificates in foreign countries due to uniform standardization. “While India has inherent entrepreneurship in its genes, lack of proper business mentorship and difficulty raising start-up finance pose huge hindrances for Indian entrepreneurs. This is why we have focused programs targeted at entrepreneurs in UP who are looking to expand their existing business or start a new one. We not only teach you how to manage a business well, grow it via online and local medium, but also provide students with business finance facilitation, mentoring and incubation services. Students undertaking entrepreneurship courses through Anuna Education not only get a NSDC certificate but can also avail zero collateral business start-up loans up to Rs. 1 crore under various government schemes.” Besides entrepreneurship, Anuna Education offers various other management level programs in Office Communications, Accounting, Project Management, Sales Management, Social Media Management, Business Writing, Banking & Financial Services sectors etc. that are geared towards “horizontal” job roles applicable across a variety of “vertical” industry. “This is a first-of-its-kind initiative that will take skill development in the state of Uttar Pradesh beyond basic entry-level jobs training, and is based on international MBA programs with a practical on-the-job problem solving and leadership approach.” Mr. Bhuvnesh Kumar, Principal Secretary Vocational Education, Government of UP, stated that state government is giving considerable focus to skill development training and has formed UPSDM, as a consolidated skills training mission within the state of Uttar Pradesh where over 4 million students have already registered. Mr. Kumar stated that he is happy to see Anuna Education & NSDC forming a partnership to train an additional 110 thousand youths in general management & entrepreneurship. The Chief Secretary, Mr. Alok Ranjan, lit the symbolic lamp to launch the Anuna Education & NSDC partnership in the Uttar Pradesh and gave references of various entrepreneurs from UP who have overcome hardships and limited means to create growing business empires. The Chief Secretary further commended Anuna Education for its efforts to bring international caliber skills training to the state of Uttar Pradesh and augmenting the training efforts already underway in the state through UPSDM. “The Government of Uttar Pradesh is happy to see such initiatives from our young Diaspora who has returned to their home-state to bring global best-practices in entrepreneurship & management for the benefit of our youths.” About Anuna Education Anuna Education is an organization working to bridge the skill-gap in India by creating well-rounded professionals, who outshine their competition in India’s growing work-force. “Anuna” is a Sanskrit word mentioned in one of Buddhism’s greatest work – The Heart Sutra – and is used to refer to something which is “Great” & “Superior”. Headquartered in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, Anuna Education is a partner of National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) Anuna Professional Career College is designed along the lines of Further Education Colleges in the UK and provides job-linked NSDC Certificates in Entrepreneurship, Small Business Management, Banking & Finance, Office Operations, Ecommerce & Social Media, Corporate Accounting, Financial Investment Management, Project Management and Business Writing. Certificates provided by Anuna Education conform to NQF levels 1 through 10, with Level 10 being a doctorate and are acceptable internationally.

Media Contact Details

Ruby Srivastava, Anuna Education Network, +91-9795460060, ruby@anuna.in