Under its Comprehensive Tribal Development Programme (CTDP), the Tamil Nadu government’s Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department has successfully conducted soft skills training programmes for 146 young persons from Scheduled Tribes and provided them employment opportunities in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Computer Numerical Control (CNC) domains in various companies.
The Tribal Welfare Department chalked out a plan to identify and conduct a training programme for youth from Scheduled Tribe communities who have completed an ITI, diploma or degree course and remain unemployed or underemployed. A door-to-door survey conducted by the teachers of Government Tribal Residential Schools in various districts identified 450 unemployed youth, said G. Laxmi Priya, Secretary, Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department.
Of them, 146 were selected for the soft skill training programme in Bengaluru, conducted by Nettur Technical Training Foundation, an empanelled institute of Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation. It includes 40 women and 106 men. After completing the three-month training programme in May, the department had arranged for placement opportunities for all of them in the field of CRM and CNC in different companies, she said. Chief Minister M.K. Stalin recently handed over the training completion certificates and job offer letters to beneficiaries.
Speaking to The Hindu, K. Poongodi, a beneficiary, who has a postgraduate degree in Tamil, said: “The CRM training programme was very helpful. We were given training on soft skills, on how to interact with customers and in spoken English. After the training, I have gained more confidence to communicate with customers.” Ms. Poongodi, who was underemployed as an agriculture labourer in Melapappanpadi near Gingee, has got three job offers from financial services and motor companies.
M. Manikandan, another beneficiary from Jayankondam in Ariyalur district, said: “The training programme was an eye-opener as I got an opportunity to interact and learn with peers from various parts of the State.” He got a job offer from an Aluminium casting company.
S. Annadurai, Director, Department of Tribal Welfare, said following the success of this pilot project, the department is planning to expand it by training more unemployed and underemployed youth from Scheduled Tribe communities.
A total of 1,543 youth have been identified this year, and they will be given training in batches in CRM, CNC, health and construction sectors under the ‘Tholkudi’ scheme.
