Govt. of Odisha, Wadhwani Foundation sign MoU for 'Smart State' initiative

Govt. of Odisha's Department of School and Mass Education and Wadhwani Foundation's Skills Development Network (SDN) today announced a strategic partnership which aims at making Odisha a Smart State through talent development.

Ranjana Chopra, Commissioner cum Secretary School and Mass Education, Govt. of Odisha exchanged the MoU with Austin Thomas, Director SDN, Wadhwani Foundation in the presence of Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Orissa and other Ministers and senior officers of Odisha Govt.

The MoU suggests providing four years of purposeful or result oriented skills based training in a vocational subject of students choice from a selection of vocations offered to them. The other phase of the programme is to introduce a parallel, dedicated vocational stream Class ninth onwards that offers diploma in vocational education to those students who aspire for vocational careers.

While SDN will provide effective program management (design, planning and quality), the technology platform, e-content, and knowledge management expertise to operationalize the Program Management Unit within the Odisha state, the Odisha State will set up and run the Program Management Unit.

On the occasion of signing this MoU, Ranjana Chopra, Commissioner cum Secretary School and Mass Education, Govt. of Odisha, "The MoU with Wadhwani Foundation for introducing Vocational Education in the schools in Odisha is part of the larger Vocational Skills Development initiative undertaken in the State. 208 schools are being taken up in the first phase and we are hopeful that in partnership with Wadhwani Foundation, we will be able to upscale the programme in the future to many more schools."

Expressing happiness on signing the MoU, Dr. Ajay Kela, President and CEO, Wadhwani Foundation said, "Odisha's Smart State initiative will focus on job creation and job fulfillment through building and supporting the full life-cycle of the skilling, entrepreneurship, and innovation ecosystems. Leading with skilling and large-scale vocationalization of secondary schools in Odisha, this initiative aims to equip high-school graduates with sufficient work-skills to command family supporting wages. This collaboration between Odisha Government and Skills Development Network (SDN) of Wadhwani Foundation is the first step towards high-quality job creation and job fulfillment in the State."

The MoU is a significant step in creating the much needed integrated system that will support the full lifecycle of entrepreneurship, innovation and skilling to make Odisha a leader in job creation and talent development through industry linkages with local industry associations and Sector Skills Councils (SSC's) that result in internship and apprenticeship opportunities and courses that are relevant, market aligned and in demand.