Government of Kerala has initiated an ambitious Programme, the Additional Skill Acquisition Programme (ASAP) with the objective of tackling the issue of growing unemployment in the State. ASAP, under the General and Higher Education Departments, works on the preventive side by training Higher Secondary and Graduate students, offering skill courses to students in need of immediate employment. Funded by ADB, ASAP has now spread out into 1052 educational institutions across the state, offering 83 courses from 24 sectors, and is expanding skill training services to all age groups through the innovative idea of Community Skill Parks. The Programmes aims at equipping selected school/college students with skills in communication, IT and selected areas of industry and service sectors. ASAP imparts 300 hours of skill training to selected first year students. Of this, 180 hours will be a foundation module comprising of communication and IT skills and the remaining 120 hours will be the module related to the skill sector chosen by the student. In ASAP, quality monitoring is a routine process. In field, Programme Managers in-charge of skill development centers monitor and evaluate the sessions. Feedbacks are taken from the students at regular intervals; after every 30 hours of the session.

In our institution Additional Skill Acquisition Programme was started in the academic year 2015-16. Dr. Smitha Pavianose, Assistant Professor of Economics has served as the faculty coordinator of ASAP. Every year an orientation programme was conducted for the formation of a new batch. Various activities like ‘Plant A Tree Challenge’, painting, newspaper crafts work etc are done for the skill development of our students.