PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday rued the poor levels of skills among Goa's educated unemployed youth even as he argued that all the blame for the State's high unemployment rate cannot be laid at the doorstep of the government alone.
"Nearly 70% of the unemployed in Goa are graduates. Even engineers are unemployed," Sawant said, adding that this points to a dire need for shifting the education model to a more skill-based one.
The CMIE, in statistics released for States across the country recently, had pegged Goa's unemployment rate at 13.6% which is way above the national average.
"Is the government alone to be blamed? Even engineering graduates are unemployed," Sawant said while speaking to the media. He added that even having National-level institutes like All India Institute of Ayurveda, National Institute of Water Sports and such in the State is of no use if youth do not acquire the skill sets required.
Pointing to a recent example of job opportunities lost, Sawant said 28 yoga fellows were recently required and only three were available.
"Twenty-eight Yoga therapists were needed, only 3 were available. We required 13 fellows, but we could get only three,” Sawant said.
Sawant said being equipped with the appropriate skills is paramount in today's job market, adding that Swayampurna Goa 2.0 will therefore focus on it.
