TN to set up finishing schools

NASSCOM HR SUMMIT 2008

The Tamil Nadu government is planning to fund IT companies to train fresh graduates passing out from colleges under the special 'finishing school initiative'. These schools will be set up in each district of the state to address the talent shortage faced by the IT companies.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of Nasscom's two-day HR Summit 2008, which began here today, C Chandramouli, state information technology secretary, said the project would be launched in a month in association with the industry.

The government will provide infrastructure for training in all the district collectorates and also bear the pre-employment training expenses for the first three months.

So far, 10-12 companies from software and hardware industry have shown interest while a few more are in talks with the government. Each district will have one or two companies running their training programmes.

The curriculum will be designed based on the company's requirements. He said the government would urge the companies to also absorb the students.

Among others, the state government is setting up an information communication technology (ICT) academy by this quarter with an initial investment of Rs 6 crore. The fund has been allotted by the Centre for skill development programmes.

The private-public partnership project is at an advanced stage of getting stakeholders together. The academy will be called ICTACT (ICT Academy for Tamil Nadu).

ICTACT, however, will not reach the students directly. It will, instead, provide training to faculty members across Tamil Nadu so as to benefit students indirectly.

While ICTACT's research and training headquarters will be in Chennai, there will be regional learning centres where contact classes and residential summer training camps can be held.

The ICTACT will be governed by an autonomous board of directors with representation from the state government, leading industries and educational institutions. Its day-to-day operations will be run by a full-time professional chief executive.