Kerala to invest Rs 100 cr in Finishing School

The Kerala government is planning to invest around Rs 100 crore for setting up the Model Finishing School under the Kerala IT Mission across the state.

The project, which was started in May this year at Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi, will be taken to other parts of the state, according a senior government representative.

N RadhaKrishnan Nair, director, director, Kerala State IT Infrastructure Ltd and CEO, Technopark, said there were about 90 engineering colleges in the state creating over 25,000 graduates every year.

In spite of academic and technical brilliance, they are unable to find employment commensurate with their skills, he added.

To overcome this mismatch and to ensure that the students are able to secure employment in desired levels, the Kerala government decided to set up the Model Finishing School in Thiruvananthapuram early this year.

The project is a joint initiative of the state IT department, Institute of Human Resources Development (IHRD) and the IT industry. IHRD is the co-ordinating agency for the school.

He said in the next two years around 200 centres would be set up across Kerala and around 200,000 students would be trained.

Nair was here to participate in a road show organised by the Kerala government, in association with Nasscom (National Association of Software and Service Companies)— southern region, to promote the state as an IT destination.

The school would appoint faculty from diverse fields including IT companies. The focus is on developing not only technical skills, but also soft skills such as tackling job interviews and language skills.

The course content will be constantly revised by the IT industry to suit the evolving current needs, said Nair.