Thirty-five-year-old A. Murugan, a school dropout from Sundararajanpatti near here, learnt the nuances of masonry through practical experience. He is an expert in civil works, but has no document to prove it. This is also the plight of another school dropout, S. Mohamed Jaleel (30), an automobile mechanic at Anaiyur here.
These two and scores of other skilled and unskilled labourers here can now get internationally valid vocational certificates, thanks to the efforts the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) instituted by the Union Finance Ministry. NSDC’s Bangalore-based affiliate, LabourNet, plans to start a vocational training centre here in association with Jemi Academy.
Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, academy president KR. Gnanasambandan said that the NSDC’s objective was to contribute significantly to the Centre’s target of either teaching or upgrading the skills of 500 million people in the country by fostering private sector initiatives in skill development programmes and providing funding to those institutions.
To achieve this objective, the Jemi Group, engaged in the businesses of real estate and solar power generators, had decided to start the academy in collaboration with LabourNet. The academy will initially impart training on a beautician and hair dressing course certified by Godrej Saloni, an electrician’s course certified by Schneider Electric, and sales training programme certified by Godrej and Boyce.
On-site training
It will also provide on-site skill training at the workplace of the beneficiaries and issue course completion certificates to the trained candidates. Courses on masonry, carpentry, plumbing and many other trades will be introduced in a phased manner. The courses spanning a duration of 120 to 150 hours will cost Rs. 4,000 of which Rs. 2,000 would be provided as subsidy by the NSDC.
“We call these training centres as Livelihood Centres. The proposed academy in Madurai will be our 23rd Livelihood Centre. We have, so far, trained 14,937 individuals across the country and most of them have been placed with reputed employers such as Coffee Day,” said Srinivasan Sukumar, Regional Manager-Livelihood Centres (south), LabourNet.
He also claimed that the academy would be equipped with a state-of-the-art electrical laboratory for training electricians, a beauty parlour for training beauticians and other such facilities. “The basic idea is to improve the economic condition of those below the poverty line and uplift them through formal training and certification. The age limit will be flexible and depend upon the vocation chosen,” he added.
