Starting August 15, Srei Sahaj e-Village, which has tied up with Indira Gandhi Open University (Ignou), will thrown open its 14 centres in West Bengal to impart vocational training in villages.
The plan is to increase the number to 27,000 across the country. Srei Sahaj, a subsidiary of Srei Infrastructure Finance, already has 15,000 centres across India following tie-ups with Microsoft and the department of employment & training (government of India) providing vocational e-learning to villages.
?We are going to impart practical training at the 14 centres across West Bengal from August 15. We also plan to cover at least 50 streams of vocational training in the state by March 2010,? Sabahat Azim, CEO, Srei Sahaj, told FE over phone.
The company has already taken e-learning to the villages, but as Azim said, ?Sometimes e-learning is not enough? practical training is necessary.? Srei Sahaj offers training for electricians, office assistants and so forth.
?The target is to provide skill-based education to at least half a million students by March 2010 with the help of Ignou,? he added. Ignou will provide degree, diploma and certificate courses. ?The students who come to our common service centres will be eligible for the courses provided by Ignou. The fee structure has not been decided now but for a basic computer education for three months we take Rs 1,200,? he told FE.
The company also launched a portal called Chaakri.in in the state in May to provide job opportunities. ?Already in West Bengal, we have recruited 334 people in companies like Eureka Forbes, security agencies and courier services. These people have surfed our portal and uploaded their resumes and we have placed them according to their qualifications and their salary now is not less than Rs 5,000,? he said. The plan is to launch this portal in other states this month.
