Shillong, Nov. 2: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has designed a loan for supporting human capital development in Meghalaya, following an advice from the department of economic affairs of the Union government.

“The proposed project will improve the quality and delivery of secondary education (including teacher training) and skill development programmes thereby, reinforcing the efforts of the Meghalaya government towards developing the state’s human capital,” the ADB mentioned on its website.

The ADB will be guided by the two flagship Central programmes — National Skill Development Mission and the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) or the National Secondary Education Mission (and related teacher training schemes), and help operations effectively in Meghalaya.

The bank will provide loan assistance to the state government to support the operationalisation of Meghalaya’s Skill Development Mission, improve the learning environment in secondary schools, and strengthen capacity in relevant departments.

“The loan has not been sanctioned, as field visits are still being undertaken. However, once the Union ministry of finance agrees, the loan negotiation and signing will take place. We expect the exercise to be completed this month,” a senior Meghalaya government official said.

The official said the Centre would actually take the loan from where Meghalaya will receive 90 per cent as grants and 10 per cent as loan.

Under Meghalaya’s Skill Development Mission, the loan will be generated for expanding skill development infrastructure, and catalysing outcome-based skill development through public-private partnerships (PPPs).

To reach out to the grassroots, livelihood development centres (LDCs) will be set up in all the 39 blocks of the 11 districts and these centres will offer skill development programmes based on the local, natural and human resource base.

While no new constructions will be undertaken, existing government facilities and buildings will be used as LDCs. For catalysing outcome-based skill development through PPPs, a “Skills Challenge Fund” (SCF) will be established to provide the state government with a flexible modality to draw in private sector skills providers for imparting industry-linked or demand-based training in priority areas.