OdishaPlus Bureau
At a time when skill development has become the buzzword in employment sector and the right skill for the right person has become the central the theme, the Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) through its Socially Smart Project is going to organize a `skill fair’ (mela) at Saheed Nagar BMC Kalyan Mandap on November 25, Monday.
The aim is to bring in both the employability seeking youth and the institutes imparting skill education to a single platform.
Till date, 12 leading skilling institutes across the city have given their consent to be present at the “Skill Mela’’ and more may likely to join.
The institutes who have given their nod to participate at the unique fair are: Skill Development Institute, Kampa Bhai Vocational Training Institute, Upasana Educational Trust, Government ITI Bhubaneswar, Urban Micro Business Centre, ICICI Academy of Skills, Central Tool-room Training Centre, CV Raman Institute of Technology, Vocational Rehabilitation Centre, Tech Mahindra Foundation, EduBridge Learning Private Limited and Trident Academy of Technology.
The ‘Skill Mela’ aims to bring 200 youths from various slums and non-slum areas of Bhubaneswar. Youth with a qualification of Class VIII and above can participate in the program.
There will be options to register for a particular skilling course from the participating institutes by a student now so that s/he can come and take admission after some time finishing the current studies or courses s/he is enrolled,’ explained an official of BSCL.
The most important part of this “Skill Mela’’ is to include youth and students from the transgender community and persons with disabilities (PWDs) as many institutes like Kampa Bhai Vocational Training Institute, Vocational Rehabilitation Centre are especially working for the PWDs. However, most of the skilling institutions are also offering courses for all including the PWDs.
It would be pertinent to mention here that the People-Centric Programme for making Bhubaneswar “Socially Smart’’ is a collaborative initiative of BSCL, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, and United Nations Population Fund.
The project was initiated in Jan 2017 in eight slums of Bhubaneswar Town Centre District (being developed under area-based development initiative of BSCL) and currently covers 100 slums of the city.
The program is being implemented at the community-level through partner NGO ‘Humara Bachpan Trust’ (HBT). While besides BSCL, BMC, UNFPA, HBT many other NGOs are also doing their part in spreading the message for the “Skill Mela’’, being held for the first time by BSCL, other social service organizations and Peer Leaders (“Pragati Sathis’’) working with BSCL will also work for convincing more and more young people especially school dropouts to visit the Mela and explore training opportunities available for them.
Sunita Nayak, a Peer Leader from Shanti Palli said, Even when one Google searches and looks for skill development institutes in and around Bhubaneswar city, the search does not link to all the institutes.
‘Skill Mela’ on the other hand, will provide a unique experience of bringing different institutes on one platform and the young people can choose programs of their interest and choice.’ Sujata Nayak, a Peer Leader from Kedar Palli slum of the city said “apart from the participation of almost all skilling institutes of the city the institutions specializing with PWDs are also coming and they would definitely help the physically challenged persons.’’
BSCL General Manager (Social Projects) Diptirani Sahoo said, the inclusiveness of the Socially Smart project has helped many young girls, women, and boys of the city through its initiatives. The project has till date provided self-defence training to 334 girls, skill linkage support to approximately 280 youths besides training 174 young boys and girls as Peer leaders in the last three years. The Skill Mela is expected to create a platform for youths in enhancing their future employability.