Coimbatore’s relationship with Germany is more than 75 years old. In these years there have been industrial collaborations, sharing of technology, student exchange programmes, social projects, and growth in trade between the city and Germany.
The German city of Esslingen and Coimbatore also became twin cities.
Apart from all these, at a time when India and Germany are looking at increasing collaboration in skill development, Coimbatore has an example to show how Germany’s dual vocational education system can be imparted here.
Gedee Technical Training Institute, which was started in 2002 by G.D. Naidu Charities, has as many as 70 students passing out every year. The students are trained in various skills such as tool and die making, mechatronics, and industrial mechanics.
These courses can be anything from a year to three-and-a-half years.
The German influence in these programmes is visible in discipline, quality standards in practical exercise, evaluation system, and precision.
Germany wants to import skilled people and has even set up a foreign office for skills approval. It is a world leader in technology, exports, and vocational training. “When they design a product, they look at how to produce it and how to produce it in bulk,” says G.D. Rajkumar, director of the Gedee Institute.
“My grandfather (G.D. Naidu) saw how Germany was going forward in skill development and started the Arthur Hope College of Technology here with a dual system of education. He later started short-term vocational courses too. When we started the institute in 2002, Germany, especially the Stoll family and Hermann Weiler, gave us a lot of know-how and support to train our faculty,” he says.
Vocational training can be promoted in the country with the support of Germany as the Indian Prime Minister and the German Chancellor are already focusing on skill development. Mr. Rajkumar says that India should also bring in systems that will encourage students who have completed vocational training to go for higher technical studies and adds that Corporates should be willing to invest in training.
