INTERNAL ASSESSMENT STARTEGY AND PROCESS FOR SKILL AND

ENTREPRENUERSHIP DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE (SEDI)

By

Saurabh .S. Hirekhan (P39049)

Summer Internship Segment

PRM-39 (2018-2020)

Submitted To
AMBUJA CEMENT FOUNDATION

Faculty Guide
Prof. Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan
August, 2019

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 Acknowledgment

First and foremost, I am very much grateful to Ambuja Cement Foundation for letting me
explore the sector of skill development. The project helped me in better application of my
classroom learnings and gave me practical exposure to many verticals.

I would also like to thank my reporting officers Mr. Shailesh Lambe, for guiding me throughout
the project and helping me with all the relevant information whenever needed.

I am also are very thankful to the trainers at SEDI office, respective principals and each member
from Ambuja cement foundation for helping me to gather the data and successfully executing
this project.

I am obliged to Prof. Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan, for the constant support and guidance through
in depth discussion on visualizing new solutions to the problems in the project and showing
me ways to efficiently approach this project.

Last but not the least; I would also pledge my gratitude to IRMA and our SIS coordinator,
Prof. Pratik Modi, for giving me this wonderful opportunity of this internship.

Saurabh Hirekhan (P39049)

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 Executive Summary
I Title : Internal assessment strategy and process for skill and
entrepreneurship development institute (SEDI).
II Organization : Ambuja Cement Foundation (ACF)
III Reporting Officer : Mr. Shailesh Lambe
IV Faculty Guide : Prof. Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan
V Participant’s Name : Saurabh Hirekhan (P39049)

Objectives of study: The Skill and Entrepreneurship Development Institute (SEDI) is one of
the many initiatives of the Ambuja Cement Foundation. It is a unique employment program
offering short term courses in various trades and skills. The objective of the study is to
implement a well-designed internal assessment strategy for all the job roles in SEDI.

Scope of study: The study provided a premise of 30 different locations across the country.
With nearly 49 different job roles in which the SEDI’s were providing training to the rural
youth who were otherwise unskilled to do industrial and non-agricultural jobs. The study
contains information of skill development industry, understanding various job roles, process
plan for internal assessment and exposes to a good corporate culture.

Methodology: The methodology adopted for this project included Stakeholder analysis, Case
study, Comparative analysis and Pilot test. Further it included studying the curriculum and
qualification packs (QP) designed by NSDC (National Skill Development Corporation) for
various job roles. The project required establishing a good network across all the SEDI’s to
have a centrally operated internal assessment process.

Data Sources The study is evaluative and explorative in nature. In which various methods
were adopted. The Primary data was collected with the help of one to one interaction with
trainers and champions allotted to each SEDI. The source of secondary data was obtained
through the portal of NSDC. Some data was also collected by thorough observation by
personally visiting SEDI.

Major Findings: Trainers were solely responsible for the content of the session plan, delivery
of the session plan and the assessment of students. Firms don’t prefer employees with lesser
expertise. Hence, for any trainee to achieve its maximum expertise, their trainers need to cover
the complete syllabus proposed by NSDC.

Conclusions: A qualification pack hence becomes the most important aspect in the skill
development industry. Providing students with an efficient and centralized internal assessment
process ensures that the QP is well ingrained in the session plans of the trainers. This would in
turn increase the passing percentage of students and improving the quality of education
provided.

Recommendations: Keeping in mind the vision of Ambuja cement foundation which is rural
transformation, the graduating students must be well exposed to the contents of the QP of their
job role to lend authenticity to the industry in which the student is going to be. Course duration,
updated OJT, internal training and feedback mechanism were other recommendations.

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 Contents
Acknowledgment ...................................................................................................................... ii
Executive Summary ................................................................................................................. iii
LIST OF FIGURES: .................................................................................................................. 1
LIST OF ABBREVATIONS ..................................................................................................... 2
INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Skill development sector in India ..................................................................................... 2
1.2 About Ambuja Cement Foundation. ................................................................................. 3
1.3 Objective ........................................................................................................................... 4
1. METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................................. 5
2. STAKEHOLDER ANAYLSIS ........................................................................................... 6
2.1 NSDC and skill development sector ........................................................................... 6
3.2 NSDC with respect to curriculum .................................................................................... 8
3.3 What is a qualification pack?............................................................................................ 9
3.4 What are national occupancy standards? ........................................................................ 10
3.5 Performance criteria ....................................................................................................... 11
3.6 Knowledge and understanding ....................................................................................... 12
3.7 Skills (optional) .............................................................................................................. 12
3.8 Understanding SEDI and Job Roles. .............................................................................. 14
4. CASE STUDY ..................................................................................................................... 15
4.1 Designing session plan format ........................................................................................ 15
4.2 Problem Identification .................................................................................................... 17
5. Comparative analysis ........................................................................................................... 18
5.1 Similarities and differences ............................................................................................ 18
5.2 Need for the project ........................................................................................................ 19
5.3 Towards the centralized assessment process .................................................................. 19
6. PILOT TEST ........................................................................................................................ 20
6.1 Addmen OMR Software ................................................................................................. 20
6.1.1 What is addmen OMR software? ............................................................................. 20
6.1.2 Functioning of OMR. ............................................................................................... 20
6.1.3 Process for OMR to be used at SEDIs. .................................................................... 21
6.2.3 Detailed process for pilot test. ..................................................................................... 21
6.2.1 Building question bank: ........................................................................................... 21
6.2.2 Some key pointers .................................................................................................... 23
6.2.3 Receiving the indent form ........................................................................................ 24
6.2.4 Generating question paper ........................................................................................ 25
6.2.5 Conducting the test ................................................................................................... 27

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 6.2.6 Uploading the OMR answer sheet ........................................................................... 28
Each center is responsible for uploading their sheets, and the internal assessment
champion is assigned to do this task. ................................................................................ 29
6.2.7 Generating results ..................................................................................................... 29
7. PROCESS NOTE DOCUMENT ......................................................................................... 31
8. RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................................................... 35
10. ANNEXURES ................................................................................................................... 38
ANNEXURE 1: QP-NOS flowchart. ................................................................................... 38
ANNEXURE 2: Job roles and academics ............................................................................ 39
ANNEXURE 3: IAC and JR details for pilot test. ............................................................... 42

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LIST OF FIGURES:

Figure 1:Program timeline .................................................................................... 3

Figure 2: Methodologies used ............................................................................... 5
Figure 3: NSDC stakeholders and their roles ....................................................... 7
Figure 4: NSDC across India ................................................................................ 8
Figure 5: NSDC with respect to curriculum ......................................................... 8
Figure 6: Sample qualification pack-Front page................................................... 9
Figure 7: NOS ..................................................................................................... 10
Figure 8: Performance criteria in NOS ............................................................... 11
Figure 9 : Organization (KA) and technical criteria (KB) .................................. 12
Figure 10 : Core skills (SA, SB) ......................................................................... 13
Figure 11: SEDI across India .............................................................................. 14
Figure 12: Session plan format ........................................................................... 15
Figure 13: Question bank vs. Session plan ......................................................... 16
Figure 14: Bilingual question bank format ......................................................... 16
Figure 15: OMR main interface .......................................................................... 22
Figure 16: Interface for creating question bank .................................................. 23
Figure 17: Indent form ........................................................................................ 24
Figure 18: Interface for creating question bank .................................................. 26
Figure 19: Interface for creating question paper ................................................. 27
Figure 20: Interface for uploading OMR sheets ................................................. 28
Figure 21: Sample OMR sheet uploaded ............................................................ 29
 LIST OF ABBREVATIONS

ABSF ADITYA BIRLA SKILL FOUNDATION

ACF AMBUJA CEMENT FOUNDATION
IAC INTERNAL ASSESSMENT CHAMPION
NOS NATIONAL OCCUPANCY STANDARDS
NSDC NATIONAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

OJT ON THE JOB TRAINING

OMR Optical mark recognition
PC PERFORMANCE CRITERIA
QID QUESTION id
QP QUALIFICATION PACK.

SEDI SKILL AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT

INSTITUTE.

SSC SECTOR SKILL COUNCIL

 INTRODUCTION

We are standing at a crucial juncture. The lack of access to good education and training keeps
the vulnerable and the marginalized sections into the vicious circle of low skills; low productive
employment and poverty. There are many reasons so as to why the existing workforce that is
already supposed to be skilled is not. Poor quality of Labor force who have general education
up to secondary level or those having vocational training and got employed and the other are
the prominent ones. Educated labor force which is not able to find jobs matching their
qualification due to lack of technical or soft skills also form the major part of the
unemployment.

Nowadays with the era of globalization, the cooperative sector, and professional offices, the
environment and industries are growing at a faster pace. Each and every individual is thriving
and willing to be counted among the best. What makes a person a good professional and the
best among the crowd is his /her skills. Skills, help an individual to be proficient within one’s
profession and on the other hand, determines how far a business gets if it is sleeved up with a
greater number of skilled employees.

For an individual the development of knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitude is important to
become a competent employee or an entrepreneur. Knowledge usually refers to declarative
knowledge representing course content that is memorized and comprehended throughout the
education undertaken. Skills are complex acts that, coupled with knowledge, also involve
performance based outcomes. Abilities refer to behaviors that resemble skills but are much
complex and need a much longer time to develop. Attitudes are main elements of the affective
area such as interest, motivation, self-confidence, personality, and temperament. The prime
directive of any skill development entity is to have standards so as to create competent
professionals to meet the demand and supply in the labor market as well.

These factors lead to the mismatch between the skills that are currently available in the
educated or trained labor workforce on the one hand, and the type of skills that are actually in
demand from employers on the other. While skill training is being actively promoted by the
government and its partners in the private sector and industry, it is not an aspirational career

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choice among the youth. Vocational training is perceived as a fall back option rather than
mainstream career choice. This bias is observed amongst employers who pay higher salaries to
entry level engineers compared to experienced workers who have done vocational training.
Thus, along with issues of capacity, quality and employability, attitudinal factors about how
skill training is perceived by both potential trainees and employers are needed to be addressed.

1.1 Skill development sector in India

Skills and knowledge are the driving forces of economic growth and social development for
any country. India is blessed with 65% percent of its youth in the working age group. Today
India’s demographic dividend is benefited due to the rise of working age group (15-59 years)
as compared to dependent population (0-14 and above 60 years). Figures say that by 2035 the
youth escalation will be on peak providing abundance of human capital to industries of the
economy. India will need to add 109.73 million people by 2022 to fill the skill gap in various
sectors. Based on the reported skill gaps in the states, and data available from the sector-wise
reports of NSDC, there is a 33% difference between the incremental manpower need. If the
skill India development schemes are implemented successfully, India may lead to be a
manpower surplus of approximately 47 million. Moreover, due to aging effect globally India
can become the major supplier of manpower in filling the huge manpower shortage by 2020.

Government intervention and policies are needed to encourage the type of courses in different
industries and increase employability through multiple short-term, long-term and vocational
courses. Indian economy's age group is more influential towards learning if qualified people
can contribute to strengthening the economy rather than becoming the responsibility.

By fulfilling this obligation, Ambuja Cement Foundation has embarked on this ambitious
initiative called skill and entrepreneurship development institute (SEDI), equipping young
people from underprivileged and socio-economically marginalized strata, optimizing their
complete capacity and ensuring that they are not left out in the race to achieve effectiveness.

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1.2 About Ambuja Cement Foundation.

ACF is the corporate social responsibility arm of Ambuja cements limited. The Foundation
was set up in 1993. Since then it has been working tirelessly in the areas of agriculture,
education, skill development, health care and women empowerment, and schemes to promote
the social and economic development of communities in and around the manufacturing
locations of Ambuja Cement with a keen focus on corporate volunteering. ACF's skill
development team seeks to promote skills creation and education through its innovative market
training program SEDI- Skill and entrepreneurship development institute. As of now there are
30 SEDIs in 11 states of India and approximately 7000 youths from the marginalized society
are graduating every year from these institutes through 49 job roles of 16 sector skill councils.
74 % of these trainees have been placed after their course completion.
The employability team at ACF aims at promoting skill development and education through
its innovative framework of SEDI. It works for skill development for youth who have either
left their education beyond secondary standard and are in need of a job or are continuing their
education through open system. They are imparted with soft and life skills alongside retail and
sales etc. while being trained for work place readiness. It also has variants for technical skills
and industry exposure through site visits. The facilitators at SEDI train men and women in
technical trades. With eminent industry linkages and efficient on-the-job trainings, the youth
is prepared for market opportunities and self-employment. They are all trained under
specialized trainees for a period of three, four, and six months depending upon the job role they
have applied to.
The entire program follows a timeline which can be explained as follows.

MOBILIZATION TRAINING PLACEMENT

Figure 1: Program timeline

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1.3 Objective

The main objective of the study is to identify the stakeholders of the SEDI program in line with
analyzing their needs in order to position the program in a better way by designing a put to use
efficient internal assessment process for all SEDIs. A few overlapping broad objectives have
also been looked upon along the study. They are as given below:

• Developing understanding of how SEDI works and also the present challenges which
are being faced.
 Academically creating a successful career path for SEDI students within which the
main focus would be on how retention of a student in a firm could be higher.
 Augment the training and internal assessment process all across SEDIs.
 Improve success percentage of trainees in external assessments.
 Increased placement percentage due to fresh impetus on training and internal
Assessments.

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 1. METHODOLOGY

The project involved both observational and explorative study. Visited the SEDI located in
Gadchandur city of Chandrapur district in Maharashtra and studied the structure and
functioning of SEDIs by participating in all the processes involved from mobilization to
assessment. Secondary research insights were analyzed using data of SEDI job roles provided
by ACF and through informal discussions with SEDI employees across different locations. I
also read brochures and documents detailing conception and design of SEDI. I ended up
identifying four major stakeholders for SEDI program namely - students enrolled in SEDI,
SEDI alumni working in industry, the SEDI facilitators and the prospective employers.

The methodology had the following elements:

Stakeholder
analysis

Pilot test SEDI Case study

Comparative
analysis

Figure 2: Methodologies used

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 2. STAKEHOLDER ANAYLSIS

2.1 NSDC and skill development sector

NSDC (National skill Development Corporation) seeks to foster the growth of skills by
catalyzing the establishment of large, high-quality and profitable vocational organizations. The
organization also offers financing for the development of scalable and lucrative roles in
vocational training. NSDC functions as a catalyst in the growth of skills by offering funding to
enterprises, companies and organizations that provide skill training.

NSDC has various job roles. Each job belongs to a specific industry. NSDC has created various
autonomous bodies for each identified industry. All job roles belonging to a specific industry
belong to the corresponding SSC (sector skill council).
NSDC has the following stakeholders and with their corresponding roles.

1) SSC (sector skill council): Sector Skill Councils are set up as autonomous industry-led
bodies by NSDC. They create Occupational Standards and Qualification bodies,
develop competency framework (called as QP- qualification pack), conduct Trainer
Programs for trainers, conduct skill gap studies and Assess and Certify trainees on the
curriculum aligned to National Occupational Standards (NOS) developed by them.

2) Training providers: These are organizations which augment the implementation of skill
development schemes and programs. In this they begin with Creation, arrangement of
physical infrastructure, training equipment and labs. After the completion of physical
infrastructure preparation of curriculum, content, training and teaching material is
facilitated.

3) Training centers: Training centers are first point of contact for the candidates. They
Provide awareness and counseling about courses as per the qualification and interest of
the candidates to help them take an informed decision before undertaking skill training.
They also provide opportunities for classroom and practical training, peer and industry
interaction, employability and soft skill training and finally the placements.

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4) Students/trainees – Students are the ultimate stakeholders in the whole chain of skill
development. They are the end beneficiary and they get the first exposure of skill
industry at the training centers.

NSDC
SECTOR SKILL COUNCIL (ssc)
autunomus industry led and
insudtry governed bodies set
up by NSDC

TRAINING PROVIDERS
Companies and organizations that implement
skill development programs and schemes of
government.

TRAINING CENTRES
Skill development centres are established by the above
mentioned organizations. these centres are the first point of
contact of students with skill development industry.

STUDENTS/TRAINEES

Figure 3: NSDC stakeholders and their roles

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3.2 NSDC with respect to curriculum

Figure 4: NSDC across India

The approach of NSDC is to develop partnerships with multiple stakeholders and build on
current efforts, rather than undertaking too many initiatives directly, or duplicating efforts
currently underway. Presently NSDC has 443 training partners dispersed across 8503 training
centers with 1870+ job roles in which students could take training. To facilitate these job roles,
NSDC has functionalized 38 SSC’s which look after the academic premises of the job roles.
Each job role further has a qualification pack which further has national occupancy standards.
The curriculum based functioning process of NSDC could be understood by the following
process

NSDC

SSC

JOB ROLE (JR)

QUALIFICATION PACK( QP)

NATIONAL OCCUPANCY
STANDARDS ( NOS)

Figure 5: NSDC with respect to curriculum

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3.3 What is a qualification pack?

• A QP or qualification pack is a skill based curriculum for a particular job role.

• A Qualification pack is a set of national occupancy standards (NOS) with the details of
educational topics, training and other criteria required to perform a job role.
• Each job role has been defined in its QP.
Hence, it contains knowledge, skills and behavioral parameters needed in a person in that job
role.

Figure 6: Sample qualification pack-Front page

A QP has the following basic details on its front page:

• Name of the QP
• Sector in which the job role comes under
• Basic description of the job role
• Contents of the QP

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3.4 What are national occupancy standards?

National Occupational Standards (NOS) indicate the performance standards that a person must
attain when performing a workplace role, along with the knowledge and understanding that
they need to continuously fulfill a standard. In a job role, each NOS describes a main feature.
Each NOS must be a concise and readable document composed generally of not more than five
or six pages (some are just one or two). Employers set up the NOS (through their SSCs). A QP
is a collection of NOS aligned with a work role. These drive both the creation of curriculum
and assessments. Thus, the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) theoretically
makes it possible to drive competency based training for every job role in industry. Essentially,
a NOS is a set of skills, knowledge and understanding parameters necessary for a job role.

Figure 7: NOS

A QP has multiple national occupancy standards (NOS). Further each NOS has a set of
performance criteria, knowledge and understanding criteria (theoretical) and skills (optional).

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3.5 Performance criteria
Performance Criteria are statements that together specify the standard of performance required
when carrying out a task. Performance Criteria describes the necessary actions. These are
denoted by PC1, PC2, and PC3 etc.

Figure 8: Performance criteria in NOS

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3.6 Knowledge and understanding
 Organizational knowledge: Organizational Context includes the way the
organization is structured and how it operates, including the extent of operative
knowledge employees have of their relevant areas of responsibility. These are
denoted by KA1, KA2, KA3, etc.
 Technical Knowledge: Technical Knowledge is the specific knowledge needed to
accomplish specific designated responsibilities. These are denoted by KB1, KB2,
KB3, etc.

3.7 Skills (optional)

 Core skills: Core Skills or Generic Skills are a group of skills that are key to learning
and working in today’s world. Denoted by SA1, SA2, etc.
 Soft skills: These include communication related skills that are applicable to most
job roles. These are denoted by SB1, SB2, etc.

Figure 9 : Organization (KA) and technical criteria (KB)

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 Figure 10 : Core skills (SA, SB)

 Towards the end of the QP there is a criteria well defined for the assessment of
trainers. For a trainer who is assigned the task delivering contents of the QP to the
trainees it is essential for him/ her follow the complete syllabus so that the trainees
are very well ready for the internal and external assessment for the particular job
role.

To strengthen the understanding of skill development with respect to the curriculum and its
contents, a flow chart is given in Annexure 1

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3.8 Understanding SEDI and Job Roles.

ACF has 30 SEDIs in 11 states of India. Approximately 7000 youths from the marginalized
society are graduating every year from these institutes through 49 job roles of 16 sector skill
councils. Rajasthan, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh were amongst the top states with 3 or more
number of SEDIs functioning.

Figure 11: SEDI across India

Post establishment of SEDIs the following key tasks are commenced:

• Recruitment, development, and deployment of trainers, and support staff.
• Mobilization of financial and non-financial resources for smooth execution of training
programs.
• Awareness, outreach, and propagation of skill development courses offered by them
• Tie up with industry/employers for on the job training and placement opportunities for
candidates after completion of training

Details of existing job roles with their respective SEDI location is mentioned in Annexure
2.

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 4. CASE STUDY

To understand the existing internal assessment process, I undertook a detailed case study
keeping in mind the process and functioning of Chandrapur location. Upon completion of the
2days SEDI visit to Chandrapur, as a part of informal discussions with SEDI employees,
principal and with observation, each facilitator/ trainer had a session delivery plan as which
was designed partly sourcing from the QP and partly as per the industry requirements where
the particular job role trainee was supposed to be placed. At Chandrapur location, the job roles
offered were assistant electrician level 3, General Duty Assistant level 3,
Assistant Manual Metal Arc Welding / Shielded Metal Arc Welding Welder Level 2 and
Assistant Mason Level 2.

4.1 Designing session plan format

After analyzing the scenario, I was able to design a format for session plan and the question
bank. These two formats were shared with the pilot locations and they were asked to prepare
the session plan and question bank as per the format and share it with us. The session plan
format designed is as under:

Figure 12: Session plan format

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The above format of the session plan was designed so as to obtain the NOS elements of the QP
covered in their session plan. This also helped trainers to review their own session plan.
Two question bank formats, one complementing English language and the other in bilingual
language was prepared for further processes. These two formats are as under:

Figure 13: Question bank vs. Session plan

Figure 14: Bilingual question bank format

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Upon receiving the session pan and with the help of knowledge gained from studying the QP,
all the NOS elements which were being covered and those which were not covered in the
existing session plan were found. As a sample, the NOS summary created for the session plan
of assistant electrician level 3 job role for Chandrapur location was shared with ts.he respective
for further inputs.

4.2 Problem Identification

With a lot of informal interactions with all the SEDIs across telephones and emails, we at ACF
decided to undertake a pilot test to develop insights which would be helpful in establishing a
centralized and efficient internal assessment process.
There were two main problems identified. The first was the session plan delivered to the
trainees was not completely matching with that of the NSDC defined syllabus, i.e. the QP. And
the second, ultimately the question bank which was available was also as per the existing
session plan which again was in a small proportion missing out on the QP.

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 5. Comparative analysis

To ascertain a strategy to formulate an effective internal assessment process, it is vital to

understand how the other training institutes have been operating. To understand the same,
internal assessment at “Aditya Birla skill foundation (ABSF)” was understood. A
communication was established with ABSF employees and the whole process of internal
assessment was explained verbally by them

At ABSF, nine job roles with duration in the range of two months to four months were offered.
The assessment for these job roles was carried out twice throughout the timeline of a job role.
The first assessment was an internal one which was conducted midway during a course called
as the mid-term assessment and the second was a third party assessment in which it was
conducted by various third party assessment certified companies. The internal assessment was
carried out in decentralized way in which the trainer itself conducted the test. A set of question
papers were already set as per the syllabus covered. These same question papers were used for
that particular job role every time. Some questions were added and deleted as per the changes
in the syllabus. Towards the end of the course the final assessment was carried out after which
students were placed.

5.1 Similarities and differences

Following were the key similarities:

1) The trainers at both ACF SEDI’s and ABSF were responsible to conduct the test at their
autonomy.
2) The syllabus was mostly as per industry requirements.
3) The assessment was invigilated by a different trade trainer.

Following were the differences:

1) Assessment format at SEDI comprised of test at the discretion of trainers after every
15-20 days cycle whereas at ABSF it was only twice through the course outline.
2) Job roles were different with different durations.
3) The test at ABSF was taken in both, at times in written format and at times with the
help of Google docs.
4) At SEDIs there was a predefined question bank from which the trainer sets a question
paper which is different for every time the similar topics were taken, at ABSF same
question paper was used as they had pre-defined set of question papers.

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At ABSF they also conducted informal weekly tests which were not a part of the assessment
process.

5.2 Need for the project

For developing an internal assessment strategy for SEDIs the following pointers were deduced:

 Keeping the objective in mind, it was necessary to make process centralized so as to

have a homogenous assessment.
 Improve success percentage of trainees in external assessments.
 To improve the overall value of SEDI graduates in job market.

5.3 Towards the centralized assessment process

After receiving the session plan and question bank from each of the four location selected for
the pilot test, a NOS summary in the similar manner was shared with each of the trainers. These
trainers were then made aware about the centralized internal assessment process. Each of them
were asked to align their session plan according to their respective qualification packs. All
trainers were asked to prepare a question bank complimenting the updated session plan.
Each center was conducting tests as per the autonomy of the trainers till date. The trainers used
decided the when and how to conduct test which made the present assessment method free
from supervision. Hence, to make the internal assessment process centralized, it was essential
to make it centrally operating. To do this a lot of meetings and discussions were carried out at
the head office of ACF in Nagpur, and was given an opportunity to be an active participant of
those.
Finally, as it was not feasible to appoint new trainers or mobilize the existing trainers
to the head office for administering the test centrally, after a lot of brain storming
sessions, the process of OMR test was looked upon and was accepted to be taken to the
pilot test after factoring its feasibility.

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 6. PILOT TEST

To have an internal assessment process for 30 different SEDI locations it was essential to have
a sample tested. Hence to move ahead with the process we decided to have a pilot test for four
locations. These locations were, Kodinar (Gujarat), Bhatarapa (chattisgarh), Chandrapur
(Maharashtra) and Dadri (Uttar Pradesh). For each of the centers, we requested the principals
to nominate one internal assessment Champion (IAC) for the purpose of being the point of
contact between the centers and the Head office of ACF for all the processes of internal
assessment. Two job roles were selected for each location. At each step all the data collected
was verified and stored. The following were the detail of the job roles and IAC assigned with
the contact details is in Annexure 3

6.1 Addmen OMR Software

6.1.1 What is addmen OMR software?

OMR stands for Optical Mark Recognition (or Optical Mark Reader). Addmen can be seen as
one of the most advanced OMR, ICR and OCR Software solution business providing a
comprehensive modular Institute Management Software and Integrated Assessment Suite that
meets the requirements of all organizations in any manner associated to the Education and
Assessment process.
The OMR software is used to process surveys, tests, attendance sheets, checklists, and other
plain paper in bubbled forms. The OMR software has been intended to provide an extra-edge
over the alternatives currently available for test taking process. It is a computer software
application which can readily process the inconsistency of n amount of OMR sheets. The
optical marks produced on the forms are captured. The software extracts information from
noticeable areas, from checkboxes, field fill-in, printed forms, etc.

6.1.2 Functioning of OMR.

The software aids to form a question paper and generate results out of it. Both these tasks
require inputs to the software. It is easy to evaluate the responses marked on the sheet using
a standard scanner unit. Once the information marked on the OMR sheets have been

20
 scanned, they will be converted to digital form. The sheet set will be saved in a directory
and the OMR software will be instructed to read the responses marked on the route to that
specific directory.

6.1.3 Process for OMR to be used at SEDIs.

The process of using Addmen OMR software would be carried out in four broad steps.
These are: building question bank, generating question paper, uploading OMR Response
sheets and generating results.

6.2.3 Detailed process for pilot test.

The pilot test for four locations was carried out in the four broad steps. Each of these steps were
unique and required good support from the addmen team as well as from the pilot locations.
However, the first and the foremost thing was to install the OMR software at all the pilot
locations. The installation process required a set up patch which could be easily accessible to
anyone. Using Addmen OMR software also required a pin/key, which was shared by the
Addmen group in the form of a dongle. Each of the center were received their dongles well in
time via courier. Further, with the help of Anydesk (a screen sharing platform) and conference
calls, under the expertise of addmen group, the software was successfully installed at all the
centers and the systems were ready for the further processes. The detailed description of all
the processes post installation of the software at each steps are as below:

6.2.1 Building question bank:

This process was carried out at the head office. Upon receiving the question banks from all the
pilot locations, each job role required a unique question bank to be fed in to the OMR software.
The OMR software allows the question bank to be in a primary/single language, i.e. English or
Hindi or any other local language, or it could be built in a bilingual form. To meet his
requirement, each of the locations were shared the specified format for the question bank. The
whole onus of understanding the interface of the software, and building the master question
bank for each job role selected for the pilot test was given to me.

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 Figure 15: OMR main interface

The OMR software is designed in such a way that each question which is fed into the software
has a unique question id (QID) . As more number of questions are added the consecutive QID
should be used for every question.
For building the question bank, understanding the interface of the software is of utmost
importance. There are many features in the OMR software through which, the questions can
be structured and organized into their specific chapters, topics and subtopics. Apart from this,
the question can also be tagged as per the difficulty level: easy, moderate and difficult. The
following diagram shows the interface for building question bank

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 Figure 16: Interface for creating question bank

Steps to be followed while creating a question bank are as follows:

 Create a work book as per the number of question required and the type of question
bank to be prepared –single or bilingual.
 From the available question bank, add questions to the work book created and save
it.
 Organize questions as per the chapters, topics, subtopics.
 Tag the questions as per the difficulty level they have.
 Save the settings assigned to a particular question or set of questions.

In the similar way any number of questions could be added to a particular subject and the
question bank could be created at the discretion of the authority.

6.2.2 Some key pointers

 The work book can be created in two files: Excel and word. However, the addmen
support team suggests to use the word file.
 If the question bank has images in it, the work book should be created in word file and
not excel, as the software doesn’t read images through excel.

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  The work book which will be saved after creating the question bank could be accessible
in the C drive in Addmen’s data folder.
 Question bank could be edited, however doing so would lead to losing the tagging.
 For bilingual question bank it is advisable to stick to the format in which the work book
is generated as the process of uploading the questions becomes tedious and time
consuming.

6.2.3 Receiving the indent form

Upon creating question banks for all the four locations, an opportunity to create an indent form
was given to me. An indent form is a document which contains the details of the test as desired
by the facilitator. The indent form is to be sent to be sent from the SEDI to the Head office via
email. The facilitator fills the details of the test in the indent from in the format provide by the
head office and hands it over to the internal assessment champion (IAC). The IAC then
officially writes an email to the Head Office requesting for a test.
After receiving the indent form, the Head office prepares the question paper and sends it to the
principal of the respective SEDI to ascertain secrecy.
The indent form format which was prepared could be seen in the image below.

Figure 17: Indent form

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The indent form covers details as given below:
 SEDI location.
 Job role details.
 Date of conducting the test.
 Duration of the test.
 Marking scheme.
 Name of the chapters for which the test is being taken.
 Number of questions to be asked from each chapter mentioned.
 Number of questions per chapter as per difficulty.
 Some other basic regulations to be strictly followed in the process of conducting the
test.

The purpose of having a provision of indent form makes the process smooth, formal and
ensures a systematic approach of conducting a test. At the same time, it makes the task of
monitoring the status of each job role whenever an indent form is received.

6.2.4 Generating question paper

The third step in internal assessment process is generating a question paper. Upon receiving
the indent form from the respective SEDI the head office creates a question paper and sends it
to the principal within 7 days of receiving the indent form. The OMR software has a different
interface for generating a question paper which can be found in the “generate question paper”
button on the main interface of the software. The next step is to create a blueprint of the
question paper. The title of the blue print, with the number of questions to be taken, are the
details needed to be entered next. A blueprint is created as soon as the “create blueprint” button
is clicked. Just below this, is a dropdown box from where the created blueprint is to be selected?
After that, the job role is selected. As soon as the job role is selected, number of questions
pertaining to it is shown at the right side of the interface. This is the side of the interface where
creating /editing the blue print is done. The number of questions required, are finally added by
clicking on the “add questions” button. In the similar way, for each job role in the pilot test, a
blueprint was created.
The interface for creating the blueprint looks as shown below in the image:

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 Figure 18: Interface for creating question bank

In the “Generate question paper” interface, the first step is to select the blueprint which was
earlier created. For generating a question paper, the OMR software gives many options to
design the question paper as desired. The second step gives us option to eliminate questions
which have been repeatedly asked. This could be done in the “Filter” side of the interface
as shown in the image below. The next step is to click on the find questions button and at
this point we can see which questions the OMR software has selected from the question
bank from the inputs that have been provided. Furthermore, if different sets have to be
generated, then its input should be provided in the Set buttons section.
As soon as the overall process of formatting the question paper has been done, the ultimate
step is to click on the “GENERATE PAPER” button. After this, a question paper will be
generated in the word file along with a separate sheet containing its answer key. This
question paper needs little editing to fill the basic details like , duration of the test, marking
scheme of the test, setting the logo of the organization etc. Once the question paper is
generated it is sent to the respective SEDI principal 3 days in advance of conducting the
test. The interface for formatting and generating the question paper looks as given below
in the image:

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 Figure 19: Interface for creating and formatting question paper

6.2.5 Conducting the test

After the question paper has been received by the SEDI principal, it is handed over to the
invigilator two hours before the test timings. This is done to ascertain the secrecy of the
question paper. Each SEDI in the pilot test was provided the OMR answer sheet with 25, 50,
75 and 100 questions capacity. These sheets, according to the test, have to be printed one day
before the test day and handed over to the principal. The onus of printing the OMR answer
sheets is on the internal assessment champion. The principal then, along with the question
paper, hands over the complete test bunch (question paper and answer sheets) to the
invigilator/trainer two hour before the test. The invigilator should not be the same trainer who
issued the indent form and had conducted the sessions for the trainees.
At the time of conducting the test, the students were provided proper instructions to fill the
OMR sheets. This is of utmost importance as the OMR software does not read multiple marked
options for the same question. The way options were marked by the students were also
scrutinized. In the similar way, the process conducting test at the pilot locations was carried
out successfully.

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6.2.6 Uploading the OMR answer sheet

The process of uploading answer sheets should start after the test is successfully conducted at
the SEDI. For the pilot locations, all the internal assessment champions were giver training
over conference calls and through Anydesk software.
Steps to be followed to upload OMR answer sheets:
1) Click on the OMR sheet reader button on the main interface. The software will direct
the user to the operating interface as shown in the figure.
2) Browse the sheets saved in the system.
3) Select the sheets and set the margins to the index points on the sheets.
4) From the dropdown button, select the format of the answer sheet (25/50/75/100
questions’ sheet) used while conducting test.
5) Click on read sheets.
The operating interface and the sheets read by the software would look like the images shown
below in figure 20 and figure 21 respectively.

Figure 20: Interface for uploading OMR sheets

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 Figure 21: Sample OMR sheet uploaded

Some important points to be considered

Each center is responsible for uploading their sheets, and the internal assessment champion is
assigned to do this task.
 The files should be uploaded in 100dpi or above resolution, otherwise the OMR
software doesn’t read it
 Files should be scanned only in A4 sheet format.
 The scanned filed should be clearly show the index points on the sheet otherwise margin
won’t be set.

6.2.7 Generating results

This process starts at the head office of ACF and is completed at the respective centers.
For this purpose a different admen software is required which is linked to the same dongle.
It is called the “integrated assessment suite”.
This software helps any organization to define the test. After the test has been defined, the
respective center will see the defined test in their server in the OMR software and subsequently
the results should be generated by the organization.
Steps to be followed for generating results:
1) Open the “integrated assessment suite” and click on the define test button.

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2) Basic details of the test like the test number, mode of test taking, number of questions,
sheet layout are set at this stage.
3) These settings after being set are saved.
4) Then the answer key to the particular test is uploaded by copying it from the source
folder and pasting it to the “define” section interface.
5) This section also has an option to map the marking scheme.
6) After saving these settings, the “define” section is ready to generate test
7) The particular center will open the “test result analysis” interface from the main
interface of OMR software.
8) Upload an excel sheet with the basic details of the candidates with name and roll
number.
9) Select the test and upload the data to generate results.

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 7. PROCESS NOTE DOCUMENT

A process note document was also prepared which included all the details of the processes
involved in the newly developed internal assessment process. The document formed is exactly
as under:

INTERNAL ASSESSMENT PROCESS FOR SKILL AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE

Process Internal Assessment Process

Name
Augment the theoretical knowledge and to Improve success
Process objective
percentage of trainees.

Process Boundaries Student/trainees get trained and take test every 30 days of getting
trained.

 Lectures for students,

 Test indent from the facilitator to the head office,
 OMR software,
Process Inputs  Question paper,
 OMR sheets

SESSION PLAN AND INDENT FORM

Process Activities  Completed 30 days’ session plans

 Tests should be taken in a cycle of every 30 days.

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  An indent form should be issued by the facilitator who wishes
to conduct test.
 Indent form should be sent by the internal assessment
champion (IAC) to Nagpur Head Office to Mr. Shailesh
Lambe and Mrs. Minakshi Wanode via Email.
 The indent form should be sent to the head office on every
20th day of the session plan (in case on any delays, it should
exceed more than 2 days).
 The indent should be so set that it contains 30% difficult,
35% moderate and 35% easy questions.

QUESTION PAPER CONDUCTING TEST

 Upon receiving the indent form, a Question paper should be

generated by the head office within 5 days of receiving the
indent.
 The Question paper should be sent to the SEDI in-charge 3
days before taking the test to maintain secrecy.
 Question papers should be printed one day before the
examination at the respective SEDI.
 The question paper should be handed over to the facilitator 1
hour before the test.
 Test should be conducted on the date and time as mentioned
in the indent form.
 In case of holidays or any unprecedented delays, the
maximum time relieved should not exceed more than 5 days.
 The test should be invigilated by a facilitator of a different
job role than the facilitator of the same job role on which the
test is being taken to ensure an ideal examination ambience
is achieved.
 The facilitator whose job role is being under assessment
should not be on a leave on the test day and should be

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 available to clarify doubts on the question paper raised by
trainees.

RESULTS

 The process of generating results should be done within 7

days of conducting the test.
 The process will begin with uploading the answer sheets into
the OMR software and will end at generating results by the
institutes.
 OMR Answer sheets should be uploaded by the institutes
with not more than two days of conducting the test.
 In case of any holidays in between, the upcoming immediate
working days should be considered.
 Test results should be defined by the Head office in the OMR
software and should not exceed the 5 working days’ time
after answer sheets have been uploaded by respective
institutes.
 Results should be generated by the institute on the 7thth day
(excluding holidays) after taking the tests.
 Any kind of delay of discrepancy in the process should be
brought to the notice of Head office to Mr. Shailesh Lambe
and or Mrs. Minakshi wanode.
 For each assessment, the IAC should formally write emails
to the Head office regarding indent form, uploading the
answer sheets and generating results on the exact same day
when it is done.
 The Head office should also formally inform over email to
the respective institutes on the same day when the test results
are defined so as to ensure effective communication and
avoid information asymmetry.

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 Students, Facilitators, IA champions, Head office employees.

 Each internal assessment champion (IAC) will act as the point

of contact between the SEDIs and head office for all the
queries related to the internal assessment, session plans and
Question bank as well as facilitating the tests at his/her onus.
 The IAC should ensure that the particular OMR sheets should
be ready and printed well in advance of conducting the test.
Process Roles The sheets should be printed two days before the test day.
 In case the IAC is off duty or seeks a resignation, the
placement officer should take the immediate charge of the
IAC until a new IAC is nominated by the Center in-charge
(Principal)
 The center in-charge will nominate the IAC considering
his/her tenure with the SEDI, communication skills, team
work ability, and responsibility.

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 8. RECOMMENDATIONS

 Duration of the course- Duration of SEDI program can be increased by 15-30 days
from existing the existing duration if the present session plans are not covering the QP
to its desired level considering additional topics for industrial demands are also
important and cannot be left.

 Updated On-the Job Training (OJT) – This component as held towards the end of
the program, can also include a component where the candidate exerts the parameters
of behavior expected/exhibited by the employer and student at the time of joining,
Midway and End of the OJT as per the feasibility of employees’ time towards the
session plan.

 Internal training for trainers- Each trainer should be well aware of the assessment
process and should be trained under the internal assessment champions (IAC) once in
two months so that the assessment literature and technicality doesn’t slow down the
overall assessment process. At the same time this would also ensure that the candidates
also become aware of this assessment process at their level.

 Feedback mechanism for trainers - Develop a feedback tool that enables learners to
assess SEDI program. Inclusion of emails, chat groups to form connections and defined
characteristics for program feedback. Follow-up along with SMS / Facebook /
WhatsApp post reviews or direct student access to information to prevent data errors.
This will help SEDIs to develop insights to further strengthen the process.

 High focus on critical evaluation: compulsory examination/evaluation of students in

liaison with the education team. Evaluation of the faculty/staff by the students and
faculty interaction intra- center or as facilitated by SEDI. Extending placement team as
assistance in market study and also to widen the courses offered by doing extensive
market study so as to admit more students.

35
 Updating question bank: Timely updating the question bank is also necessary as
adding new questions would enforce the trainers to give equal weightage to all the
chapters. As after sometime the trainer would see some questions being repeated and
would create a bias within the curriculum and stress topics on which questions have
been seen repeated.

36
 REFERENCES

 http://www.ambujacementfoundation.org/ , Web 10 June 2019

 https://www.nsdcindia.org/ Web. , 12 June 2019.
 https://www.msde.gov.in/ , Web 18 June 2019.
 https://www.skillindia.gov.in/ , Web 30 June 2019
 https://www.addmengroup.com/ , Web 1 July 2019
 Gupta, Dr. Deepa, and Sugandha Agarwal. “SKILL DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE-
LITERATURE REVIEW.” Journal of Modern Management & Entrepreneurship
(JMME) 08 n. page. Web. 29, July 2019
 https://www.absfindia.org/, web, 29 July 2019

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10. ANNEXURES

ANNEXURE 1: QP-NOS flowchart.

PC1,PC2,PC3..ETC

KA1, KA2 , AND

NOS1 KB1, KB2…ETC
QP
SA1, SA2 AND
SB1, SB2 ETC.
NOS2

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ANNEXURE 2: Job roles and academics

Assistant Electrician Level 3

Domestic Data Entry Operator Level 4
1 Agoocha
Sales Associate Level 4
Unarmed Security Guard Level 4
Business Correspondence & Business
2 AUSKillAcademyJaipur
Facilitator
3 Bathinda Field Technician Other Home Appliances
Assistant Beauty Therapist Level 3
Assistant Electrician Level 3
4 Bhatapara Food & Beverage Service - Trainee Level 3
Retail Management
Assistant Mason Level 2
Assistant Electrician Level 3
Electrical ITI
Fitter ITI
5 Chandrapur
General Duty Assistant Level 3
Assistant Mason Level 2
Welder ITI
Assembly Operator-RAC Level 4
6 Chhindwara Assistant Mason Level 2
Sewing Machine Operator Level 4
Assistant Beauty Therapist Level 3
Food & Beverage Service - Trainee Level 3
7 Chirawa Lead courier Level 5
Sales Associate Level 4
Sewing Machine Operator Level 4
Assembly Operator-RAC Level 4
Assistant Beauty Therapist Level 3
8 Dadri
General Duty Assistant Level 3
Sewing Machine Operator Level 4
Assistant Electrician Level 3
General Duty Assistant Level 3
9 Dariba
Micro-finance Executive Level 2
Unarmed Security Guard Level 4

39
 Assistant Electrician Level 3
Automobile MMV-ITI
COPA- ITI
Darlaghat
Electrical ITI
Electronics ITI
Sewing Machine Operator Level 4
Assistant Electrician Level 3
Farakka Assistant Manual Metal Arc Welding/Shielded Metal Arc Welding Welder
Level 2
Assembly Operator-RAC Level 4
Assistant Beauty Therapist Level 3
Assistant Electrician Level 3
GandhiNagar
General Duty Assistant Level 3
Sewing Machine Operator Level 4
Wireman control panel Level 3
Ghaziabad Assistant Beauty Therapist Level 3
Accounts Executive (Accounts Payable and Receivables)
Assistant Beauty Therapist Level 3
Haridwar
Assistant Electrician Level 3
Fitter Fabrication Level 2
Auto Service Technician (Two & three wheelers) Level 4
Business Correspondence & Business Facilitator
Customer Care Executive (Call Centre) Level 4
Jaitaran
Micro-finance Executive Level 2
Sales Associate Level 4
Unarmed Security Guard Level 4
Customer Care Executive (Call Centre) Level 4
Fitter Fabrication Level 2
Fitter Mechanical Assembly Level 3
AmbujaNagar : Kodinar
General Duty Assistant Level 3
PCB Assembly Operator Level 4
Wireman control panel Level 3
Lead courier Level 5
Sales Associate Level 4
Nagaur
Assistant Electrician Level 3
Sewing Machine Operator Level 4

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 Customer Care Executive (Call Centre) Level 4
18 Rajula Assistant Electrician Level 3
Fitter Fabrication Level 2
Assistant Electrician Level 3
19 Roorkee2 Fitter Fabrication Level 2
General Duty Assistant Level 3
Assistant Beauty Therapist Level 3
Assistant Electrician Level 3
Auto Service Technician (Two & three wheelers)
Level 4
20 Sankrail Meet & Greet Officer Level 4
Sales Associate Level 4
Sewing Machine Operator Level 4
Smart Phone Repair Technician Level 4
Assembly Operator-RAC Level 4
21 Surat General Duty Assistant Level 3
Sewing Machine Operator Level 4

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ANNEXURE 3: IAC and JR details for pilot test.

SR. CHAMPIO CONTACT

NO SEDI JOB ROLE N NAME NUMBER EMAIL
Ambuja GDA HARESH chavdaharesh22@g
1 Nagar BPO CHAVDA 8140526426 mail.com
ASSISTANT
ELECTRICIA
Chitralekha chitralekhac3@gma
N 9933075542
Chatterjee il.com
ASSISTANT
2 Bhatapara BEAUTICIAN
ASSISTANT
ELECTRICIA Mr.Jeetendr jitturare@gmail.co
9921631551
N a Turare m
3 Chandrapur GDA
MICRO
FINANCE Tirveer tirveersinghparmar
9958901746
EXECUTIVE Singh @gmail.com
4 Dadri GDA

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