Bangalore: India has been invited to the 39th world skills competition in vocational training to be held in Shizuoka, Japan, beginning on November 10 this year. Most of the nations that have done well in vocational education and training are also leaders in engineering and manufacturing industries, for they have created a pool of highly skilled manpower.

WorldSkills International has asked the Union Government to send seven candidates undergoing apprenticeship training in various industries across the country. Two will be from the Vocational Training Centre of MICO Bosch in Bangalore, but their names and trades in which they are undergoing training are yet to be finalised.

The other companies are Tata Motors, Pune; GTTE, Coimbatore; and Tata Steel, Jamshedpur, which will send four candidates. The name of the seventh candidate being trained in computer numerical control (CNC) will be finalised at a meeting convened by the Director-General of Employment and Training in New Delhi.

According to V. Suresh Babu, Senior Manager (Training and Development), Vocational Training Centre of MICO Bosch, a master plan has been formulated to expose the two boys to technology and culture to face the skills competition successfully. They will also be taught rudimentary Japanese. He said he expected the two to be successful as they have been given advanced training with a multi-skill approach.

All apprentices at the Vocational Training Centre have been taken on educational tours to major industries in many States to provide them insights into production and management skills.

Apart from securing 100 per cent results in the all-India tests, the `s apprentices have excelled in various competitions conducted by the Union Government and the Confederation of Indian Industry. A total of 144 apprentices, including three this year, have won best apprentice awards. The Vocational Training Centre also has the rare distinction of winning the President's Best Establishment Award for the 34th consecutive year.

Mr. Babu said the centre was ready to train apprentices sent by the Government, who, in turn, could train apprentices in various vocational centres. It had adopted five industrial training institutes in Uttara Kannada district. He said that the company was spending over Rs. 3 crore annually on the centre and most of the apprentices were absorbed by leading companies.

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