Chhattisgarh Infotech Promotion Society (CHiPS) in association with Centre for Advance Computing (CDAC)-Chennai is undertaking a computer training course for capacity building in IT skill of Scheduled Tribes (ST) candidates across the State.

Under the project, as many as 3300 ST candidates would be imparted job oriented training on use of computer and other Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools in a period of two years.

“The innovative project is exclusively sanctioned to Chhattisgarh by Department of Electronics and IT, Government of India. Under this project, 3,300 ST candidates will be imparted computer training in time duration of two years. The training is aimed at helping ST members of the society to achieve confidence for setting up business in IT domains, earn livelihood and to provide sustainable employment generation in and around the district,” said Chief Executive Officer of CHiPS, Saurabh Kumar.

Kumar further informed that the centrally sponsored training course in Chhattisgarh is being implemented here by CHiPS and CDAC-Chennai.

According to Kumar, the project focuses on training of STs (including students) at locations in the backward areas where the basic infrastructure and training facilities lacks the most by setting up IT training infrastructure in these locations. Accordingly, three state-of-art IT training centres (with capacity of 25 seats) equipped with requisite infrastructures including computers (desktop and laptop), printers, projectors and other stuffs, have been developed in Jagdalpur, Rajnandgaon and Ambikapur.

At IT training centres, candidates will be subjected to training in basic skills on IT (140 hours), of which 630 candidates (selected on the basis of merit) will be further trained in certification on Adobe Photoshop (54 hours) and another 630 candidates (selected on the basis of merit) will be trained in certification on Web Designing (62 hours), added CHiPS CEO.

He further added that all training centres were inaugurated during the Digital India week and since August 2015, 271 candidates have been trained at Rajnandgaon, 272 candidates in Ambikapur and 133 candidates at Jagdalpur in Basic Computer Course. Based on merit lists, 35 candidates in Rajnandgaon, 40 at Ambikapur and 35 at Jagdalpur have been trained in Advance Computer Course.

No fees is being charged from ST candidates, said Kumar, elaborating that ST candidates with annual family income upto Rs3 lakh per annum will be eligible to attend this course.

The project is expected to build the capacity of STs including women to lead their communities in struggle of social transformation and integration, claimed Kumar.