NGO to train poor students

Vidya Poshak, an NGO set up to extend financial help to the poor meritorious students, has launched an ambitious project to train non-engineering students from north Karnataka to secure gainful employment.

The Dharwad-based Vidya Poshak has tied up with Progeon, a subsidiary of Infosys Technologies, and KLE Society's Mrutyunjaya Commerce College, Dharwad to launch the project.

Principal of Mrutyunjaya Commerce College B N Pammar and Vidya Poshak CEO R N Tikot told reporters here that the project was taken up following the failure of arts, science and commerce graduates from north Karnataka to get recruited to various companies. A lack of communication skill, poor knowledge of English and computer operations were the chief reasons for the students from the region lagging behind, they said.

The project aims at creating the curriculum for the elective Global Skills Enhancement (GSE) for students, training the lecturers on the same, supporting and handholding the lecturers while they train students on the same curriculum, assessment of the students' performance, creating job fairs to increase employment opportunities in secondary towns and organising campus interviews by MNCs and domestic companies to provide jobs to students from north Karnataka.

Tikot said the training aimed at preparing the students not only for jobs in BPOs but also for other competitive examinations. The first phase will be to provide a two-week training to the lecturers at Infosys Leadership Institute in Mysore from October 14-29. The training will equip the lecturers to understand the nuances of BPO industry, to help students acquire necessary skills through training and develop better communication skills.

The lecturers trained there Will in train their students on self-financing basis. Tikot said the students from north Karnataka often lacked numerical aptitude and hence were deprived of jobs. Progeon will bear the expenses of training the lecturers.

In the second phase, the trained lecturers will train their students in their respective colleges for three months, starting November. In March campus interviews will be held to recruit the trained students.

Pammar said the response from colleges in Hyderabad-Karnataka and Mumbai-Karnataka region to the programme was encouraging and 200 lecturers from 100 colleges will join the training programme at Mysore.

Progeon has launched a training and recruitment drive for graduates from backward communities or physically disabled from north Karnataka To secure jobs in BPOs. Students with aggregate of 60 per cent marks belonging to SC/ST Category 1/2A/2B are eligible.