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Ludhiana women volunteers bridge gap between schools and skills
In the seminar conducted by Ludhiana based group of women professionals and entrepreneurs , students were introduced to the process of joining various programs at polytechnic and industrial training institutes (ITI)
City-based group of women professionals and entrepreneurs ‘Ludhiana cares ladies society’ conducted a seminar on Monday to highlight a major hurdle face by students in taking advanced training in diverse range of skills and becoming self-employed.
Despite having vocational training facilities at 47 government schools in the district under the national skills qualification framework, lack of awareness and guidance pose a major hurdle to the students.
Upon conducting a survey in the schools, the city-based group decided to take up the task to break the status quo and launch a drive to pave the road to jobs for such students.
Addressing the issue, Ludhiana cares ladies society conducted a seminar, wherein as many as 800 government school students from Class 10 to 12 participated.
Industrial training and technical education secretary, DPS Kharbanda was the chief guest. He announced that as many as 21 new courses have been started at the government industrial training institutes across the state along with four new industrial training institutes in the district.
At the seminar, which also saw the participation of government school principals and vocational trainers, the students were introduced to the process of joining various programs at polytechnic and industrial training institutes (ITI). A number of success stories of former ITI students and entrepreneurs were shared with the students.
Speaking during the event, DPS Kharbanda said, “The absence of an updated curriculum and new courses as per the needs of the industry had proved to be a drawback for the students seeking to build a career in their respective fields.”
After discussing the requirements of the local industry in Ludhiana as many as seven courses have been introduced including agro-processing, desktop publishing operator, driver cum mechanic and plastic processing operator, he added.
Skilled students can earn a respectable amount of income while staying in their hometown and new institutes have come up at Swaddi Kalan, Raikot, Ladowal and Machhiwara.
Among the women leading the initiative to motivate the students are Renu Beri and Tejinder Kaur, both doctors by profession. Renu Beri said a large percentage of students, especially girls, were unaware that such an opportunity to get quality education at low cost even existed.
“After coming across the information gap, we have been holding sessions at the government senior secondary schools in the district to provide them with resources and personal guidance, she added.
Coordinators from various ITIs guided the students about the requirements and available courses.
Besides this, Ludhiana Army recruitment cell in-charge Sharad Kumar guided the students about the Agniveer scheme of the Indian Army.
