Rajesh was just a street vendor at Shalibanda in the old city but now he earns Rs. 25,000 by repairing refrigerators at a mechanic store in the city, all thanks to a programme he enrolled for, a year ago.
In an alumni meet organised by the State Department of Rural Development, one hundred candidates of the department’s employment generation and marketing mission converged to narrate their success stories here on Monday. The programme which kicked off in 2015 is supported by the Union Government’s Ministry of Rural Development. In three years a total of 37,311 people have to be trained under the scheme.
Under the scheme young men and women were trained in spoken and written English to make them work ready or employable. The training programme called English Work Readiness and Computers (EWRC) had nine centres in Telangana State. Under the programme many unemployed youth have got employment in the open market with a good salary. “I was 17 when I started working without much skill. Then I enrolled for the programme and it improved by employability index,” Mr. Rajesh said, adding he provides for his family that includes his parents and two female siblings.
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Many others who attended the meet narrated similar success stories. For Praveen who is currently working in the publishing industry as a print technician said soft skill and computer training which he received at the programme helped him get his first job at a salary of Rs,10,000. In a year his got a salary hike to Rs. 12,000, Mr. Praveen said. Red Cross vocational training institute at Masab Tank is used as finishing school for all EWRC batches. In the finishing school students were given training in good employer interactions, alumni interactions, mock interviews and campus interviews. About 25 per cent of the candidates who were enrolled for the programme were given training in computer database. “With the number of training centres increasing in the coming years more students will benefit from the programme,” said Mr. Praveen.
A total of 7,593 candidates were trained in the past one year out of which 4,546 were placed. The programme authorities had conducted 20 job melas. Currently a total of 2,323 candidates are under training.