British Council and Tamil Nadu government complete professional English programme for state officers
Chennai: Ms Grace Pachuau, IAS, Additional Commissioner, Industries & Commerce, Government of Tamil Nadu and Ms Janaka Pushpanathan, Director, South India, British Council on 12th August, Friday announced the completion of a customised English language development course for the personnel of the Department of Industries and Commerce, Government of Tamil Nadu in the presence of the learners and instructors from British Council’s English learning center in Chennai. The programme by British Council is a new addition to its work towards creating opportunities for, and upskilling of, government officials.
The programme was specially designed by British Council with a strong focus on business (workplace) communication, email and report writing and was delivered to 41 officials of the Department of Industries and Commerce from different districts of Tamil Nadu. Prior to the training, the candidates were assessed by British Council CELTA qualified teachers and were divided into different batches based on their English proficiency. Based on the level check results the academic team worked on the content for the courses.
The participants were placed in 4 batches from upper Intermediate to Elementary level and the courses were delivered over a period of about 8 weeks, starting on 20 June 2022 and ending on 11 Aug 2022.
British Council and the Government of Tamil Nadu have an active Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that focuses on collaboration for English language training of Tamil Nadu’s youth. The MoU aims to empower them with specialised education in speaking and writing English fluently, as well as to prepare them for interviews. This will enable them to fine-tune their skills and enhance their employability. The MoU also aims at strengthening the efforts of the youth towards integrating education and culture. The MoU also seeks to develop collaborations at the British Council library and English learning center in Chennai which serves as a learning hub for learners, entrepreneurs, visitors from the UK and for the people of the city of Chennai. Since 2009, British Council has taught English language courses to thousands of learners through its English learning center in Chennai. The new course builds on the British Council’s work towards creating opportunities for, and upskilling of government officials
Grace Pachuau, IAS, Additional Commissioner, Industries & Commerce, Government of Tamil Nadu, said, “It has been a great experience working with British Council to deliver this programme on business English communications to our officials across the state. The specially customised and curated courses delivered holistic understanding of communicating in the English language that will add long term value to our officers. We believe that with this training the officers will be able to carry out their tasks with more confidence and efficiency. We have received very positive feedback from the candidates and look forward to initiating more programmes like this, with British Council.”
Janaka Pushpanathan, Director, South India, British Council said, “We are delighted to have completed this English training programme with Department of Industries and Commerce, Government of Tamil Nadu and are excited by the feedback from the officers. Based on their inputs, we are looking forward to further engagement with the government for follow up courses and other such initiatives. We have been working with the government of Tamil Nadu to provide communication skills training and this is another significant step forward of our ongoing efforts in the state.”
Highlighting British Council’s focus on English training, she added, “We have always aimed at enabling learners with tools and skills to transform themselves and their communities to achieve better socio-economic outcomes, with our interactive ‘learning through doing’ approach. British Council is constantly working on this mission through our English learning centers in Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai, where more than 100,000 students have taken a course in the last five years.”