Addressing the media at the Institute for Skill & Entrepreneurship Development (ISED) in Darlaghat, V.K. Jain, Trustee, ISED said,” ISED was formed to empower rural youth and it is a matter of great pride for us that the Institute has played an important role in empowering rural youth and finding gainful employment”.
He briefed the media, “ISED commenced operations in 2005 at Darlaghat and offers courses in engineering trades like automobile, carpentry, computers, electronics, fabrication and plumbing and non-engineering trades like beauty culture, cutting and tailoring, embroidery and many others”.
ACF has set up 13 such Skill Development institutes in ten states of our country viz. Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Himachal, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgargh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Each year, all these institutes put together, train over 3500 young boys and girls in job oriented trades. A total number over 5600 young ones have benefited from these institutes so far.
The Institute endeavors to offer a well rounded program. Apart from imparting trade skills, it also offers inputs in topics like Entrepreneurship Development, Personality and Cultural Development, Spoken English and Active English. Students are encouraged to participate in blood donations as well as in tree plantation.
“ISED has added value to the lives of unemployed rural youth in Himachal by introducing them into behavioral changes, capacity building, entrepreneurship and personality development, mathematics, general knowledge, basic computer knowledge and many others for gainful employment”, said Mr. S.C. Pal, Additional Secretary, Chief Minister & Forests and Mr. Pal was the Chief Guest at the press conference.
“Till date the Institute has trained 848 students. Out of these 425 have found meaningful employment in well known industries and 297 are self employed. The placement percentage of the Institute since its commencement was 75% and now it stands at 92.5%. Many students have also availed of loans from banks to fund their own business” said Mr. Umesh Prasad, the Principal of the Institute in the same media briefing.
S.D. Sharma, the Deputy General Manager (Circle Head) of PNB and a trustee of the Institute said, “This initiative taken by Ambuja Cement Foundation and Punjab National Bank is commendable and it sets an example for others companies to follow. We will expand and offer our courses so that graduates who come out from the Institute can look for a stable source of income for their families”.