VIJAYAWADA: The much talked-about and the most prestigious pilot project of the State government — giving its colleges in adoption to corporate companies — has been called off.
The AP HRD had earlier proposed to give all its colleges in adoption to corporate companies, as part of improving infrastructure and quality of education, setting needed standards in colleges and making the students ready for industry. It also took further steps of training in the first quarter of 2016. But, the project has been called off due to lack of coordination between the corporates and the officials.
The government had initially proposed to give 100 degree colleges, in the first phase of corporate adoption, and invited the corporate firms to shoulder the responsibility. The Tata Institute of Social Services (TISS) came forward to collaborate with the government in this programme. The TISS gave full-length material to the teachers and conducted training workshops for both teachers and students.
As part of the project, the companies will set a module for the students of adopted colleges on various aspects and train them to match the industrial standards. Many companies like Yes Bank, Efftronics and Canara Bank gave their consent of interest in the project.
Earlier, the department officials tried to launch it on a full scale from the month of January 2017, after a repeated scale of postponements. However, the officials confirmed that the programme has been called off, as they seem to have lost interest with the corporate companies. At the same time, the corporate firms are equally complaining on the department officials for being lethargic towards the project and not taking up the responsibility.
Efftronics Incharge Director Y Rama Krishna said, “We tried to partner with the government and help the students of government degree colleges in the State. But, the department officials were not concerned to have a mere communication. So with heavy heart, we quit the project and started focusing on other social activities.”
On the other hand, the Higher Education officials are still trying to rejuvenate the project with the help of TISS. Unlike the adoption process, the TISS will take up the entire project and deliver some processed modules to the colleges. This might require an MoU to be signed p with the TISS and the government is still having discussions over this project.
Earlier, the TISS had trained 800 lecturers from all the 100 colleges in six core subjects, digital literacy, soft skills, communication skills, financial literacy, leadership and entrepreneurship.