Many students from socially challenged sections of the society are poorly represented in IT sector in India today. This is due to a combination of family background, poor communication abilities, lack of motivation and lack of access to high quality education. To make these students ‘employable’ by the IT industry, the Government of Andhra Pradesh under the Rajiv Udyogasri scheme has initiated a 6 month long training program.
Affirmative
Action
The program is implemented as a part of the affirmative action plan by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, Industry, Corporate Partners and Educational Institutes.
The Training Program is designed by Infosys and is a proven model. Training will be delivered by a judicious mix of faculty from educational institutions (JNTU proper colleges – Hyderabad, Anantapur, Kakinada, Karimnagar and Pulivendla), training institutions and the industry including experienced educators from several major MNCs. In addition, trainees would undergo life skills training, guest talks by industry leaders, and visits to facilities of leading IT companies.
At the end of 6-month period, a “Job Fair” would be conducted for the trainees. A pilot program is scheduled to commence in October with 100 Engineering graduates drawn from the socially challenged sections of the society. The program would be scaled up based on the observations from the Pilot.
Mission
To ensure that all the socially challenged sections of the society have equal opportunities for employment in the IT & ITES sectors through imparting the state of the art training.
Objectives
1. Identification of the socially challenged youth who are qualified to work in the IT, ITES sectors but are unemployed.
2. Establish the state of the art training program through creation of proper Infrastructure, deploying quality faculty, providing financial support and creation of a good residential environment.
3. Develop competencies in the areas of soft skills, English language communication skills, technical skills, project and process management skills and domain skills.
4. Partner with all major IT and ITES companies for evolving Industry oriented training and better placement opportunities.
5. Provide round the clock personalized counseling throughout the training program towards personality development of the trainees.
6. Involving the various Government and Educational entities such as IEG, IT&C Department, Welfare Departments, Universities and other Educational bodies on a constant and periodical basis.
7. Spread the awareness of the STP so that many more unemployed youth from the socially challenged sections can avail the benefits of the program.
Eligibility
Students belonging to socially challenged sections of the society having BE/B Tech degree IT-related branches or MCA with minimum of 55% (60% preferable) in their qualifying examination are eligible for the STP. The candidates will be selected based on their performance in a written test followed by a counseling/ interview.
Special Training Program Highlight
• Technical training in information Technology.
• Behavioral skills training.
• Hands-on Lab sessions.
• Industry Practitioners as Faculty.
• Batch of 100 students.
• A laptop for each student
• Wi-Fi enabled campus
• 2 Mbps broadband connectivity
• Industry oriented Case Studies.
• INFOSYS Foundation Program Courseware.
• Free course material for Participants.
• Six months residential training.
• Online Assessment throughout the Training.
• Employment Opportunities on Completion.
Program Patron
The Social welfare department, representing the different welfare departments of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, will be the Principal Patron for the Program.
The responsibilities of the Program Patron are -
• Partly fund the STP pilot and subsequent scale up activities.
• Participate in program effectiveness review meetings and suggest suitable actions.
• Encourage participating unemployed students by motivating schemes.
• Facilitate the social status verification of the candidates.
• Publicize the STP so that more candidates from the socially challenged sections can avail the benefits.
Program Sponsors
Industry leaders are invited to participate in this affirmative action initiated by the Government of Andhra Pradesh.
Corporate partners can sponsor the following items of the program as a part of their Corporate Social Responsibility and support the government initiative.
• Providing Training facilities, Computers (Servers, and Laptops) and Networking equipment.
• Partially sponsoring the program (Rs 10 lakhs or more).
• Delivering guest lectures to the trainees.
• Participating in job fair for hiring trained youth.
• Library, Internet broadband connectivity, Classroom equipment and any other services.
Educational Partner
The Education Partner is the single point of contact for end-to-end STP initiative including planning, organizing, execution, quality management and operations management. The JNTU has been identified as the Education Partner for the STP in the state.
The strategic focus areas include:
• Examination management aiding in student selection
• End-to-end Training planning with focus on Courseware, Lab, Class room, training facilities, Equipment, Faculty, Administration, Examination, Computer systems support, class scheduling, Assessment, industry visits and so on.
• Program process, delivery, methodology and schedule ownership
• Library and Learning-Teaching Resources
• Faculty and Supporting vendors selection & interaction
• Training operations management
• Delivery effectiveness management
• Program quality management
• Student placement assistance for successful students
• Providing faculty from the Institute
Program Anchor
IEG IEG is the single point of contact for end-to-end STP initiative including planning, organizing, execution, quality management and operations management as well as post-training activities. Some of the strategic focus areas include
• Overall Program Management.
• Program Communication, Reporting and Stakeholder Updates.
• Student selection.
• Program finance management.
• Program reviews and Escalation Management.
• Student placement assistance.
• Student counseling, relationship Management and emergency Management.
• Facilities provisioning and administration.
• Food and Accommodation.
Infosys Foundation program (FP)
The technical training component used for STP is the Infosys foundation program consisting of:
• Nine generic courses that provides sound base of computer science and software engineer concepts plus seven J2EE specific courses
• Project work
• Soft skills training of 8 days to enhance self-confidence, problem solving skills.
• Communication and presentation skills practiced throughout the program.
The training will include periodic examinations and assessment of subjects and project work. seminars on time management, language skills and interview skills and so on will be conducted periodically.
