Samsung India on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) for its Samsung Technical School initiative, renewing its partnership for 10 existing schools run across the country and adding two new MSME-Samsung Technical Schools at Bengaluru and Jamshedpur.
Samsung runs another 10 such schools in collaboration with departments of technical education in different states such as Rajasthan, Kerala, Bihar, Delhi and West Bengal, taking the total to 22.
Reinforcing its commitment to the government's 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign, Samsung also announced the MSME-Samsung Technical School Scholarship program for girls and differently-abled trainees. A Meritorious Reward Program for toppers at these institutes has also been launched.
Under the MSME-Samsung Technical School Scholarship program, 1,000 girls and differently-abled trainees, who have successfully completed the basic course, will be given a scholarship of up to Rs. 20,000. This will cover the entire fee for the Samsung Advanced Repair and Industrial Skills Enhancement 2 (A.R.I.S.E.2) program and will help augment the number of girls and differently-abled trainees at the schools.
With the Meritorious Reward Program, toppers among Samsung Technical School students will be given a reward of Rs. 20,000 in recognition of their performance.
The MoU was signed in the presence of Kalraj Mishra, Union Minister for MSME, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union Minister for Food Processing and HC Hong, President and CEO, Samsung Southwest Asia.
To support the girl child, Samsung India had also distributed 10,000 Solar Lanterns to girl students of government schools in Noida, Gurugram and Sriperumbudur near Chennai to celebrate International Women's Day. These lanterns are enabling girls to spend more time on their studies, even during power outages.
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"We are committed to creating an industry-ready work force and provide industry-oriented skills to our youth under the Skill India program. Samsung has been a valuable partner in our quest to create a vast pool of talent and we are pleased to further renew our association. The scholarships and reward program further showcase Samsung's commitment towards the girl child and this initiative," said Kalraj Mishra.
"The government, with its 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana', has been trying to generate awareness about various welfare schemes for girls in the country. Samsung's commitment to the welfare of the girl child and to help them get technically trained and find their feet are commendable," added Harsimrat Kaur Badal.
Samsung Technical School, which is a part of Samsung's citizenship initiative, was started in 2013 and aims to support the government's vision to make India a global manufacturing hub by addressing the need for talented manpower with practical know-how and relevant industry experience.
These schools have so far trained over 2,000 youth and made them job-ready across different technical trades. Around 70 percent of these students have got jobs, 45 percent of them with Samsung service centres.
The initiative is part of Samsung's 'Make for India' initiative and contributes to the government's Skill India mission.
As part of the curriculum, the A.R.I.S.E.2 program provides students trade-specific training on various aspects of repair and troubleshooting for consumer electronics products such as mobile phones, televisions, home theatres and home appliances.
Students get real-time work experience at Samsung authorised service centres and other than technical skills, they also get a chance to learn soft skills which enable them to provide quality customer service.