Punjab Government, in a landmark initiative, inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the British Council Education India Private Limited (BCEIPL) on Monday for opening new avenues of employment for the state’s youth.

The MOU was signed by the state’s Higher Education director Dr Amarpal Singh on behalf of the Punjab Government and BCEIPL managing director Duncan Wilson in presence of the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains, and Deputy High Commissioner of UK, Chandigarh, Caroline Rowett.

Congratulating the Higher Education Department for signing the MoU, the Chief Minister said that it is a red letter day in the history of the state. “This MoU will pave the way for starting a training course for students of Government Colleges under the Higher Education Department in ‘English for Work’,” said Mann, envisioning that this will upgrade the employability skills of the state’s youth at the workplace and will help them to get themselves placed in the industrial and services sector.

The Chief Minister added that it will also motivate the youth to stay within India and contribute towards Punjab’s socio-economic growth. “This is a step forward towards reversing the trend of brain drain from the state. As a part of this project, students will study one level of English for Work, more commonly known as English for Employability Skills,” he added.

“English for Work is a blended course that focuses on learning English language in real work-like situations. It lays major thrust on all skills – Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking with a focus on Grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary,” said Mann, adding that under the MoU, a pilot project would be launched in the state’s Government Colleges for 5000 students from the Academic Session 2023-24.

He said that ‘English for Work’ will be an online blended learning course that uses a proven ‘flipped classroom’ approach to combine the flexibility of self-study with live interactive classes.

Expressing hope that students will develop and upgrade their English skills to communicate with confidence in professional situations, Mann said that there will be a pre-assessment test to know the level of the student and a post-assessment on completion of the course and students will be given a certificate on completion of the course.