This Article is From Oct 25, 2021

Union Education Minister Inaugurates Phase 2 Of Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship

MGNF Phase 2 (national roll out) launched today with 661 MGNFs will be deployed across all districts of the country. Eight more IIMs have been onboarded taking the total to nine IIMs this year.

Union Education Minister Inaugurates Phase 2 Of Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship

Dharmendra Pradhan has inaugurated phase 2 of MGNF today

The Union Minister for Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan has launched the phase 2 of Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF). The MGNF is a two-year long fellowship created as an opportunity for young, dynamic individuals to contribute to enhancing skill development at the grassroots.

The two-year fellowship seeks to combine classroom sessions by academic partner - Indian Institutes Of Management (IIMs) with an intensive field immersion at the district level to create credible plans and identify barriers in raising employment, economic output, and promote livelihoods in rural areas, an official statement issued in this regard said.

While speaking on the launch, the Union Education Minister, called upon fellows to act as catalysts of social change at the grassroots by driving skill development efforts. He also called upon district collectors and academic partner IIMs to facilitate the fellows and script a success story of change through this fellowship.

In line with the requirements of 21st century and local realities, Mr Pradhan called upon the fellows to work with global thinking and local approach including integrating local language in the skill development efforts.

To operationalise the mission and strengthen the skill training delivery mechanism in the country, teh statement added, Skill Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP), a World Bank loan assisted program, was launched by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship in January 2018.

SANKALP engages with District Skill Committees (DSCs) to effectively reduce the mismatch between the supply and demand of skilled manpower in the country, thereby creating decent opportunities for the youth to work and earn, it added.

The MGNF program under SANKALP was designed to provide a cadre of professionals at district level who not only know about governance and public policy in general but vocational education too.

MGNF is a unique blend of academic and work-based training handled at the IIM campus and the districts, respectively. The academic module familiarizes the fellows with concepts from Management, Development Economics, Public Policy and the District Skills Ecosystem. During the fieldwork (District Immersion), the fellows shall work within the district with DSC officials on skilling challenges facing the district.

As part of the MGNF Phase-I (Pilot) launched with IIM Bangalore as Academic Partner, as many as 69 fellows are now currently deployed in 69 districts across six states.

MGNF Phase 2 (National Roll Out) launched today with 661 MGNFs will be deployed across all districts of the country. Eight more IIMs have been onboarded taking the total to nine IIMs (IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM-Jammu, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Lucknow, IIM Nagpur, IIM Ranchi, IIM-Udaipur and IIM Visakhapatnam), the official statement added.

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