NITI Aayog lauds TASK initiated by previous BRS government

Apart from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh is the only other State to get appreciated for its efforts for conducting skill census in January this year, to improve skilling and employability of students.

Hyderabad: NITI Aayog has lauded Telangana’s initiative, the Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK) for skilling and employability enhancement among students across streams. Apart from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh is the only other State to get appreciated for its efforts for conducting skill census in January this year, to improve skilling and employability of students.

In its policy report on “Expanding Quality Higher Education through States and State Public Universities” published recently, NITI Aayog stated that initiated in 2014 by the then BRS government led by former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, TASK aims to bridge the gap between industry, academia and government by offering quality human resources and services. It also supports colleges by fostering environments for growth through faculty development, research pilots, and systematic quality education programmes, besides delivering skilled talent pool for corporates.

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Over the last decade, TASK has benefited 761 colleges, skilled 9.84 lakh students and 18,650 faculty, partnered with 80 industries and facilitated over 35,000 placements.

Taking to X, BRS working president and former Minister KT Rama Rao was delighted that NITI Aayog has recognised the BRS government’s efforts in skilling the youth of Telangana. “A remarkable step towards a skilled Telangana,” he said.

As per the policy report, Telangana ranks second in terms of college density i.e. total number of colleges per one lakh population (aged 18 and 23) in the State. While Karnataka ranks first with a college density of 66, Telangana follows next with 52 and Andhra Pradesh with 49, against the national average of 30. The State ranks third in terms of Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in higher education with 40 per cent, after Tamil Nadu (47 per cent) and Kerala (41.3 per cent). This is as per the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) conducted in 2021-22.