In a bid to bring down unemployment and provide a means of livelihood to school dropouts, the government has introduced a new scheme that will impart technical skills to unemployed people. As part of the initiative, 5,000 beneficiaries will be identified in 16 municipalities in Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Cuddalore for the Employment Oriented Technical Training scheme, jointly implemented by the Central and State governments.
A two-day camp to identify beneficiaries began at municipalities in the southern suburbs of Chennai — Tambaram, Pallavaram, Pammal and Anakaputhur — on Sunday. Inaugurating the camp at Jaigopal Garodia National Higher Secondary School in East Tambaram, municipal chairman M. Karikalan said technical training would be provided to beneficiaries under the Swarna Jayanti Shahari Swarojgar Yojana (SJSSY) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation with financial support from the State Government's Department of Municipal Administration and Water Supply.
Men and women in the age group of 18 to 45 from families below the poverty line are eligible to apply for the free training, said Mr. Karikalan. Applicants must have passed class V.
He said there were as many as 12 professions in which free training would be provided. These include manufacturing, construction, repair and maintenance, sales and marketing, logistics, lifestyle, healthcare, office maintenance, media and visual arts, gems and jewel making, hospitality and tourism and adventure sport.
The Department has identified 45 private institutions in Tambaram that will provide training to the eligible men and women in their respective trades. The final list of the beneficiaries will be ready by Thursday evening and training will commence in a week's time. “The training period will be a month for simple trades and four months for slightly tougher ones,” said Siva Subramanian, Municipal Commissioner. More than 1,000 people are expected to apply and after screening, 500 will be selected for training.
Staff from the project implementation unit of the Department of Municipal Administration and Water Supply told The Hindu that in Chengalpattu Region that includes the three districts of Cuddalore, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur, free training would be provided to 5,000 men and women. The Centre and State governments will share the cost of training provided by the private institutions. In Tambaram, the cost would be around Rs. 15 lakh.
Venkateswari Durairaj of West Tambaram, a mother of two, said she hoped to be selected for the beautician course.
Her husband works in a private company and his meagre income is not enough to support the family, she said. “The course will be easy and in the future, I can also teach the same to my daughter. Hopefully, my family will see better days in the days to come,” Ms. Venkateswari said.
