Government of Goa, GIM upskills 400-plus ITI staffers via unique training programme

Hyderabad : In a sterling example of collaboration between public and private sectors, over 400 employees of the Goa government’s Industrial Technical Institute (ITI), including instructors, non-teaching staff and senior officials, were upskilled in communication, pedagogy, innovation, life-skills, stress management and other critical aspects, as part of a unique training programme conducted jointly by the state government’s Directorate of Skill Development (DSDE), and Goa Institute of Management (GIM).

The training programme which was designed in 2019, was aimed at enhancing the capability of ITI’s in Goa to enhance knowledge, skill and capability of teachers, sensitising the institute’s leaders on institutional development and positively developing the attitude of the institute’s non-teaching staffers.

The 400-plus employees were drawn from a cross-section of hierarchies of 10 ITIs in the state, for the training programme which spanned four months and was hosted at the GIM campus at Sanquelim recently.

“Each group attended two-and-a-half day sessions, where crucial skills were imparted through discussion, knowledge sessions and interactive activities to the participants. This intensive and interactive process was practically implemented by the attendees, who put into practice the newly acquired skills at their institutes for weeks, after which they presented their feedback to the GIM via a presentation,” GIM director Dr. Ajit Parulekar said.

The upskilling module comprised of training sessions on pedagogy, communication, entrepreneurship, health, nutrition, etc.

According to Minister for Health and Skill Development Vishwajit Rane, the vision behind the collaborative initiative was to encourage and skill the ITI staff to train and nurture students in order to develop them as assets for the industry.

“The government of Goa emphasises on skill development and enhancing the employability of youth in and around Goa. This vision will help us make them an asset to the industry. The objective of this skills training program for all employees of government ITI’s is to brush up their skills and create the thrust in deliverables, since after the pandemic the challenges would be unique. GIM had prepared a curated training program for all levels of employees and I am confident that it will add value to each and every participant of the training,” he said.

The skill development focus for the leadership faculty was on leadership, imparting know-how about taking new initiative with respect to placements, industry-connect, resiliency and time management content.

The instructor faculty was encouraged to teach students in new innovative ways, inductive methods, adequacy, stress-management, resilience, and various other methods, while the focus for the non-teaching staff was to enhance their own life-skills, relationships with co-workers.

“I have learnt how to work effectively, how to manage my stress, how to manage my time better and also how to deal with the changes happening in my workplace. All the topics that were being covered here like motivation, stress management etc. will help me to work better. This training has taught me to improve in my work life as well as my personal life,” said Supriya Chodankar, Programming Asst, Head Office, Panaji.

“Being a senior employee, I have been to many government-sponsored training sessions across India, but I have not seen anything like what I came across at GIM. The faculty were so professional and patient, that they answered almost everything that we had to ask. In fact, we learned from them how to handle stress. The facilities at GIM were also excellent,” said Rini Banavlikar, Head Clerk, Mapusa ITI.