‘Networking’ a selected theme for a 2-day TVET Don Bosco Tech meet at Don Bosco Skill Mission, Bangalore was conducted on the 30th and 31st of October 2021 in order to build long term relationships as well as collaboration with the centre heads over time. The purpose of this meeting was to exchange information, advice and plan actions in attaining the goals of changing the careers of the youth. It was organised for the Bangalore Province with the participation from Karnataka and Kerala.

The meeting was of great accomplishment with the presence of Fr. George Mathew, Executive Director – Don Bosco Tech, Fr. Joseph Elavanal, Director – Don Bosco Skill Mission, Fr. Shibu Davis, Technical Commission Head – Bangalore Province, Fr. Dominic Dinesh, Principal- KGF, Fr. Jomy Paracatil, Principal – Bhadravathi, Fr. Stephen Santosh, Principal – Hospet, Fr. Francis Xavier, Principal – Hassan, Fr. Deepu Poovathinkal, Assistant Director, BREADS, Fr. Praveen, Principal- Yadgir, Fr.  Raju Philip, Principal – Vaduthala, Br. V.C. Philip, Principal – Sulthan Bathery, Fr. Jubin Aayila, Principal – Vennala, Fr. Tomy Chirackal, Principal – Gulbarga, Ms. Antony Niveditha, Regional Manager-Don Bosco Tech, Mr.Veeresh Modi, Karnataka State Coordinator-Don Bosco Tech, Mrs. Nithya Rebello, Karnataka State MIS & Finance- Don Bosco Tech, Mr. Digit Jose, Kerala State Finance Coordinator – Don Bosco Tech, Mrs. Anila Samson, Kerala State MIS Coordinator – Don Bosco Tech

On day 1 the meeting was ushered with a prayer by Mrs. Nithya Rebello, State MIS & Finance coordinator, Karnataka. Fr. Joseph Elavanal took over in welcoming all the participants with great appreciation for taking their time out to attend the meeting. Fr. Shibu Davis gave a clear outline of the agenda, who will lead each task and how long each step should take. Having this information before the meeting ensures that it proceeds efficiently and productively. The next step was taken over by the Centre heads who highlighted the best practices, challenges and expectations and Plan for the centres in the next 3 years. They also shared ideas on mobilization, placements and introducing new domains at the centres.

The rest of the day 1 agenda was steered by Fr. George Mathew and Ms. Antony Niveditha which covered the Networking Possibility with TVET Centres. In this context, Fr. George Mathew, open the floor for different levels of thinking on the skilling industry and its programs. He explained about Skilling Policy, its vision and mission in the current employment ecosystem, the policy framework in skill development and entrepreneurship and how to promote skilling ecosystem at the training centres, the different policies of central and state government, the financial implications, the schemes, the Role, Importance and benefits of NSQF in future skilling. This awareness helped to disseminate the next session much effectively as the aura was already set for gaining more knowledge amongst the participants.

Ms. Antony Niveditha continued the session  by describing the 6 ways of Don Bosco Tech in initiating the networking support to the TVET centres currently

1.             Support on Accreditation and Affiliation of the centre as per the NSDC norms.

2.            Support on providing content and creating content as per their requirement.

3.            Support ToT for the trainers and get them SSC certified.

4.            Support on creating an online database management platform for each centre which could be an alive one-stop solution to have access to all the data and activities of the centre, right from inception until the post-placement support, it includes the following menus, HR, MIS, Placement, Project Management, Tracking, Communication. Reports can also be generated as per the funding partners requirements.

5.            Support placement linkages and track the trainees to know the current status of their livelihood.

6.            Student portal with their customized dashboard for self-virtual learning, attend LMS exams, seek support, interact with their trainer and batch mates become aware of placement opportunities and events and activities of their centres and organization.

The 1st day of the meeting was concluded by a question and answer session and was adjourned by Fr. Shibu who consolidated the points discussed.

The 2nd-day meeting started with a prayer by Mrs. Anila Samson, State MIS coordinator, Kerala. On this day, The Salesians were very enthusiastic and visionary with regard to the way forward and its plan. Everyone presented their plan as follows:

1.             Fr. Jubin Aalyila wanted to start 3D printing courses aligned with NSDC job roles and certifications. For that, he was interested in the accreditation and affiliation of his centre.

2.            Fr.  Raju Philip had requested possibilities of exploring opportunities in upgrading the CNC lab and to have courses as per the NSDC compliance.

3.            Br. Philip requested to continue retail and welding which was discontinued by Don Bosco Tech, whereas Fr. George Mathew had made it clear the importance of giving opportunities to various centres with the limited targets available as Don Bosco Tech is also short of targets with funding partners.  

4.            Fr. Francis Xavier insisted on the up-gradation of ITI labs for accreditation and affiliation of the 4th trade, initiating production units and having more short term courses as per NSDC standards.

5.            Fr. Deepu Poovathinkal was open to upgrading the centre and trainers as per the compliance of NSDC and having more short-term courses with the consultation of his team.

6.            Fr. Praveen is keen on initiating apparel courses on priority for married women from his locality as there is a new garment factory being set up in Yadgir, which would help in empowering 1000 youth. Therefore, he is interested in getting certified with NSDC to add value.

7.             Fr. Stephen Santosh is planning to initiate 3 courses of NSQF standard, educate the trainees on the student portal for them to access more and more and avail opportunities, help them update their AADHAR, PAN and create bank accounts while in the classroom such that it could help them once they are employed, especially for the women joining apparel sector job role which would be more of self - employed.

8.            Fr. Jomy Paracattil also plans to start apparel related job roles and aspires the centre to be registered under NSDC.

9.            Fr. Dominic Dinesh suggested up-gradation to NSQF Level 5, Certification of Staff and to start courses which could support women like Beauty and Wellness, Apparel, IT software and hardware.

Fr. Rubin presented the road to sustainability, scopes of foreign funding and agency priorities, the urge to identify the actual need/demand of the ground such that this could be helpful while designing the project and raising funds.  He explained the step by step, the current scenario and the global expectation to raise FCRA funds. He ended by stating that it would be equally important to implement the program as per the designed project for credibility and sustained support for the future.

Fr. Shibu Davis had conducted a session on the affiliation norms as they seem to be very challenging in the current scenario, he requested every principal to diligently go through the document and understand the requirement for implementation and action. It has also been decided to discuss with the respective rectors and submit a report on the next action within 2 weeks such that it could be discussed in a provincial council meeting.

Karnataka State Team also suggested initiating market demand job roles such as logistics and advanced IT skills. They have put forth the need to employ the trainees in structured organizations, have the ToT for staff and participation in review meetings regularly.

Kerala Team requested to initiate more programs in Kollam with GST since they already have a qualified staff which is being looked into. They also suggested centres to conduct more guest lectures with employers, such that the trainees would gain first-hand information from the employers directly, this practice could ease out the stress post-placement.

Ms. Niveditha also shared the dire need to have more agro-based courses for sustenance, to explore the current market demand and explore new job roles like electric vehicle technician or electric charge vehicle technician, logistics. Also, to explore different types of placement support adding technology to the existing job roles and create entrepreneurs. Finally, aim to certification of trainers as per the required standards.

There were also common suggestions for all the centres and state team by Fr. Shibu and Fr. George Mathew such as

a.            To conduct weekly meetings with centre and state team regularly and share minutes of the meeting, which needs to be addressed

b.            State Team to make centre monitoring visits regularly.

c.             At present, the centres interested in initiating skill training programs can initiate with nominal fee collection from the trainees and Don Bosco Tech would support accreditation (centres not supported by Don Bosco Tech) and affiliation, content, ToT, placement and tracking and database management on an online platform.

Coming to the end of the meeting, a presentation on 3D printing was shared by Akruthi and a presentation on CNC Printing was shared by Ariti which was indeed informative and interesting. There was a live printing demonstration of both the technology and a detailed explanation about the prospects, pros and cons of them individually. Verbal feedback was noted from all participants by Ms. Niveditha and the meeting came to a conclusion with a vote of thanks by Mr. Digit Jose.

The 2-day Networking session was hectic but had promising results. It was concluded on a positive note with great learning and awareness building. The participants were very happy and had clear take home with them to have their centre and their skill training programs aligned with NSDC compliance by the coming academic year and introduce more and more short-term skill training programs to march with the current market demand and for the benefit of the needy youth of the country.