Minister Vivek praises ITC-MSK, Pratham for skilling rural youth

Labour Minister Gaddam Vivek Venkat Swamy praised ITC Mission Sunehra Kal and Pratham Education Foundation for their CSR-backed skill development programmes, which have trained thousands of rural youths in Telangana and aim to expand further this year.

Kothagudem: Labour Minister Gaddam Vivek Venkat Swamy lauded impactful work being done by Pratham Education Foundation and ITC Mission Sunehra Kal (MSK) to transform rural youths’ lives.

A delegation from the foundation led by the cluster head Naresh Kumar Nateshan and mobilisation coordinator R Uppal met with the minister here on Sunday. They briefed the minister on the scale, achievements and future roadmap of their skill development programmes supported by corporate social responsibility (CSR) donors.

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Speaking on the occasion Vivek emphasised the critical role of CSR in driving rural transformation. He appreciated ITC-MSK for providing free residential livelihood training and employment opportunities to unemployed rural youth in the State.

The team explained about the collaborative efforts of ITC-MSK and Pratham Education Foundation in establishing a strong skilling ecosystem in the State, utilising advanced vocational training (VT) centres and the recognition of prior learning (RPL) model.

Over the last eight years, this partnership has successfully trained as many as 3,500 rural youths across Kothagudem and Medak districts, securing gainful employment and placements for 3,000 candidates.

Aggressive expansion plans were on the cards for the current year. The initiative was on track to train an additional 2,500 candidates by the end of this year through their dedicated network of ITC MSK-Pratham VT centres and eco-skilling frameworks, Uppal told the minister.

The minister Vivek assured the government’s continued encouragement for such impactful public-private-society partnerships that empower the local youth and strengthen the State’s skilled workforce.