Shillong, Aug 15: Meghalaya is soon going to launch a unique program  called  ‘Meghalaya  One  Skill  One  Talent’.

Under this  program  50,000  mid-adolescents  in  the  age  group  of  14-18  years  will  be trained  for  10-15  hours  in  their  chosen  skill  and  talent.

Speaking at the 75th Independence Day Celebrations at the Polo grounds here, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said, “I  believe  this  program will  provide  a  strong  foundation  for  youth  development,  enabling  our children  to  discover  themselves  and  to  choose  their  life  paths  better.”

He said the programme is being initiated in view of the unemployment among the youth in the state and he believes that skilling  should  start  early  in  a  person’s  life.

The  youth unemployment  rate  in  the  urban  areas  in  Meghalaya  at  23.1  percent  is higher  than  the  national  rate  of  20.02  percent,  while  the  rural  rate  of  8.9 percent  is  much  lower  than  the  national  rate  of  17.3  percent.

“We  are focussing  on  skill  development  and  entrepreneurship  promotion  to  deal with  the  challenge  of  unemployment,” he said.

He added that in  the  last  three  years,  more  than  41,000  youth  were  trained  in  sectors  like fashion,  retail  and  hospitality  under  the  Pradhan  Mantri  Kaushal  Vikas Yojana  program.

Also, 10  out  of  the  12  ITIs  in  the  State  have  been upgraded  during  the  last  two  years.

“Given  the  pandemic  and  the uncertainties  in  the  labor  market,  we  are  concentrating  on  skill development  for  the local  economy in  the  agri  and allied  sectors,” the CM said.