Additional Skill Acquisition Program

Additional Skill Acquisition Programme is an initiative of the Government of Kerala to impart skill training to the Higher Secondary and Undergraduate students of the state. The major aim of the programme is to empower the youth through skill training.

The initiative is implemented jointly by the Higher Education, General Education, Labour and Local Self Government Departments of Kerala in 2011.

Objectives

• To create employment opportunities to unemployed youth in Kerala and to enhance the skill sets of the labour force in general, emphasizing industry linkages
• To enhance the employability of the students graduating from regular academic courses by introducing additional skill acquisition programmes along with the regular studies
• To integrate and scale up the programmes to impart low-end skills as well as to equip semi-skilled / unskilled workforce in a mission mode institutionalized approach

Components of the Programme

The major components of the program are Foundation module, Skill Course and internship. The foundation module program mainly contains a 180-hour programme where the students get exposed to English speaking skill and basic skills of Computer. The training also focuses on personality development of the student.

The idea of internship is to impart training to students in some of the essential life skills required to be equipped and updated for thriving in the current job market. It acts as a linkage between market and the curriculum. The students get exposed to market procedures and trends. Asap also attempts to provide placement assistance for students. An exclusive Job portal has also been launched for this purpose.  A 360-degree shift in thinking pattern, attitude, behaviour and confidence level of students is an assurance from asap.

The asap was introduced in Rahmaniya VHSS during the academic year 2016-17 with a batch of 30 students. Later, an additional batch also was sanctioned during 2018-19 exclusively for the Hearing-Impaired students. The programme offers a 100-hour training in English language communication and 80 hours in IT skills over a period of two years. Training sessions are held in the mornings prior to regular class hours and during holidays. The course is absolutely free and an additional feature is a free light refreshment. The fifth batch of asap is running at present under the able leadership of Mr. Habeeburahiman TV who has been the Teacher Co-Ordinator ever since Asap was introduced in our school.