The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : A ray of hope for rural youth

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 04, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

A ray of hope for rural youth

Ravi Reddy

Bright future: T.A.N. Reddy of Hometown (Futures Group) addressing trainees in Warangal.

HYDERABAD: Till a few months ago, 20-year-old Gonela Swamy of Veldanda village in Narmetta mandal of Warangal was clueless on what he wanted to do after graduation.

He became depressed when he failed to get a job due to lack of fluency in English and poor communication skills.

But, hope came in the form of a unique initiative by the Employment Generation and Marketing Mission (EGMM) of the Rural Development department for Swamy and many others like him from the rural areas.

The Rural English and Soft Skills Academy (RESS), established by EGMM identified youth from interior villages and had trained them in English and communication skills. The 45-day training programme turned out to be an amazing success with 185 of 200 trainees getting absorbed in firms like Reliance Retail, Futures Group, Pizza Hut and Trinethra super market chain with salaries ranging from Rs. 3,200 to Rs. 6,000 per month.

The Mission engaged Job Resource Persons (JRPs) to identify potential youth who have passed SSC for the training, which included employability and communication skills, corporate expectations and computer training.

Turning point

“It is the turning point in my life. From loitering around in my village, today I am working in the capital,” a beaming Swamy, working as Customer Support Associate in ‘Hometown’, a shopping mall in Punjagutta said. “We can even converse with customers in English,” says I. Ramakrishna of Elakurthy Haveli village of Geesukonda mandal, and his colleague, with pride.

Warangal Collector K. Damayanthi said that rural educated youth who did not wish to return to farming now have an opportunity to secure decent jobs.

“They are able to support their families too,” she pointed out. The corporate sector too endorsed the training being given: “EGMM trained youth can straightaway be absorbed,” said a manager.

“EGMM training is different as it develops products as per the needs of the market,” said Meera Shenoy, Executive Director, EGMM.

The next batch of students trained in districts of Karimnagar, Kadapa, Anantapur, Seetampeta (Srikakulam), Nellore and Chittoor too are ready for interviews. Forty RESS academies are to be set up all over the State to help educated youth.

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