Kerala Cabinet Approves Revised Guidelines for ‘Connect to Work’ Scheme to Boost Youth Employment

Kerala Cabinet gave the green light to the revised guidelines for the 'Connect to Work' scheme on Wednesday. The 'Connect to work' scheme is the main way through which the government intends to improve youth employability by providing structured skill development combined with financial assistance.

The Chief Minister's Office (CMO) had an official communication about the matter, the new rules require that applicants must be permanent residents of Kerala, between 18 and 30 years old, and their annual family income should be less than Rs 5 lakh.

The main target group of the scheme is the youth who are either currently receiving skill training or plan to do it at educational institutions recognised by the government such as government institutions, public sector units, private training centres, universities and deemed universities, or at the same time preparing for competitive examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), Kerala Public Service Commission (KPSC), Staff Selection Commission (SSC) as well as recruitment tests for the armed forces, banks, railways and other central and state agencies.

The cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, decided that scholarships would be awarded to the first five lakh eligible applicants under the revised framework. Each selected beneficiary will be given a monthly scholarship of Rs. 1, 000 for 12 months.

The amount will be directly transferred to the beneficiaries bank accounts through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system to ensure transparency and timely disbursal.

The Employment Department is given the responsibility of the executing agency for the Connec to Work scheme and the applicants may submit their applications through the official portal eemployment.kerala.gov.in.

The government stated that the programme is designed to raise the young peoples self, confidence, keep their desire to learn going and improve their employability through regular skill development. Besides, the officials said that the programme's goal is to give financial stability during the vital transition period from education or training to employment.

Due to the growing competition for jobs both in the government and the private sector, the revised scheme will be able to provide the much needed support to the candidates from economically weaker families. The government is sure that the initiative will solve the problem of unemployment as well as create a more skilled, resilient, and future, ready workforce in the state.