Essar Foundation, together with the Dantewada District administration in Chattisgarh,
has set up an Advanced Welding Centre at the Livelihood College in Dantewada.
To date, about 90 youths have registered themselves for the course. The training,
which started on November 12 this year, is being given to students in batches
of 15.
Youths in the Kirandul-Dantewada region who have completed training in welding from Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) are being given first preference for enrolment in the advanced welding training course.
Across states, Essar Foundation has been working to help improve the employability of people from marginalized communities, focusing particularly on the youth. In villages along the route of the Essar Steel slurry pipeline, which traverses through some of the most remote and underdeveloped areas in India, youths have poor livelihood opportunities; Essar Foundation has been working with Essar Steel to impart specific skill-sets to improve their employability.
A detailed survey was undertaken in the villages to map the needs and interests
of the local youths in training and employment. Consequently, Essar Foundation
recently arranged for a computer literacy course for youths from these villages
who belong to low-income families and have completed Class X in school. Around
20 youths were identified and these students are getting computer training in
three specific areas — use pf the MS Office programs, accounting programs
and computer hardware maintenance.
The program involves almost no cost as it is supported by the district centre.
Education and Livelihood are two of the most prominent thrust areas of Essar Foundation, which believes that these are the two strongest pillars for sustainable growth and development of the community.
