Goal is to create 1 lakh blue-collar jobs through OMCAP, says Lokesh

HRD Minister Nara Lokesh on Thursday said the government’s goal was to create 1 lakh blue-collar jobs through the Overseas Manpower Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (OMCAP) over the next five years. He instructed officials of the Skill Development Corporation to prepare a roadmap and move forward in a planned and systematic manner to achieve the goal.

Addressing a review meeting with officials of the Skill Development Corporation at his Undavalli residence, the Minister said there was high demand in Europe, especially in Germany and Italy, for nurses, welders, truck drivers and construction workers. He instructed the officials to provide language training to students who had completed nursing, ITI or polytechnic education and enable them to secure employment abroad. He advised the officials to study the Kerala model for employment opportunities in nursing.

Officials informed him that 2,774 nursing candidates across the State were currently undergoing foreign language training through OMCAP.

Mr. Lokesh reviewed the skill portal that has integrated data from 23 departments. He said the 4,639 large and medium-scale industries operating in the State should be supported by preparing a skilled workforce tailored to their needs. “Complete employment-related information should be made available to the youth by the time the portal is launched next month,” he said.

Referring to the 83 government ITIs in the State, the Minister directed the officials to develop them on a mission mode. The officials informed him that proposals worth ₹322 crore had been prepared for improving infrastructure and modernisation of the ITIs. They said that though there was an increase in student enrolments, shortage of staff remained a matter of concern.

The meeting also discussed possibilities for ITI upgradation under the PM Sethu scheme. Officials noted that 646 teaching and 2,183 non-teaching posts were currently vacant across 87 polytechnic colleges in the State.

The Minister also mentioned that New Age Makers’ Institute of Technology (Nammtech), a subsidiary of ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel, had come forward to set up a skill training centre in the State.

In a separate meeting with the officials of School, Intermediate and Higher Education departments, the Minister instructed them to conduct the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) in November, issue the DSC notification in January 2026 and conduct the DSC exams in March 2026.

He said that DSC and Special DSC notifications would be released in January 2026 and the respective examinations would be held in March, 2026. He said out of the 423 teacher-related grievances received, 200 of them had been been resolved and the remaining issues were related to policy and financial matters.