PATNA: There is light at the end of the tunnel! A bunch of 14 girls from Bihar government’s childcare institutions have got placement in good hotels in Bengaluru, thanks to an initiative of the state government. Initially, they will be earning Rs 3 lakh to Rs 3.5 lakh per annum.
The girls were felicitated at a function held under the aegis of the Social Welfare Department of the Bihar government in collaboration with Unicef in Patna on Friday. Uncertain about future till a few years back, they were emotional at the turn of events.
Raj Kumar, director of the Social Welfare Department, said, “The girls completed a one-year diploma course in hotel management from a Bengaluru-based institute. Expenses of their training were borne by the state government.”
The one-year training of the first batch of the destitute girls cost a little over Rs 15 lakh. Selection for the diploma course was done in 2019. The selected ones were sent to Bengaluru for training. Counselling was conducted virtually during the Covid-19 pandemic, officials of the department said.
Sources said another batch of 30 inmates of government run-childcare institutions — 25 girls and five boys — is ready to be sent for training in hotel management in December. The selection process is almost over, the director of the Social Welfare Department said.
The cost burden on the state government will be more this time due to factors arising out of the pandemic. “We have decided to go ahead with the project because it has changed the lives of the girls staying in childcare institutions, who earlier had no future at all,” the director added.
At present, the childcare institutions funded by the state government have to accommodate 400-450 girls and boys who are below 18 years of age. Most of them were found loitering near railway stations, bus stands, temples and other public places in the state. A sum of Rs 50 lakh is spent on each girls’ home per annum.