Skill development mission transforming lives
Newly married 23-yearold Anju Verma, 20-year-old graduation student Jeetu Rajput and many other youngsters like them have benefitted from the tailoring courses offered by the Uttar Pradesh Skill Development Mission (UPSDM).
These certificate courses, offered in partnership with Raymond Limited, equip youngsters with required skills to either set up their own shop or work for monthly wages. Most of the students who have passed out till date have secured jobs in the textile sector. Many are employed at Raymond shops and other boutiques, where they are offered salaries of around `6000 per month. On December 21, 2013, Raymond Limited signed a MoU with UPSDM, under the vocational education and skill development department of the state government. The result was setting up of the Skilled Tailoring Institute by Raymond (STIR) in Lucknow, in March 2014.
Since then the centre has successfully trained 189 students, of which over 150 were women. 5 students were also supported to establish their own entrepreneurial ventures.
STIR has received an overwhelming response through its tailoring centres in UP, Bihar, Rajasthan and West Bengal in the past few years. The institutes aim at empowering the marginalised, unemployed youth as well as the women of the country, and provide them with opportunities to earn a living.
The state-of-the-art training institutes offer courses ranging from basic tailoring to specialised modules on stitching shirts, trousers, jackets, kurtas, sherwanis and Jodhpuris. Students are taught various aspects of tailoring like taking body measurement, making patterns, drafting, cutting, stitching and specialised operations such as finishing and packaging. All students also undergo soft skill training for better customer interface.
These tailoring courses are listed under the modular employability skills of director general of employment and labour (DG&ET), New Delhi.
In the next five years, Raymond plans to launch 20 more centres across the country, in a phased manner, and train over 10,000 students.
Recently, Surendra Singh, IAS and mission director, UPSDM felicitated the students of the Lucknow centre with certificates and bouquets, at government ITI, Aliganj.