Guwahati: In a move to upgrade technical institutes covering all aspects of curriculum, training and equipment in consonance with the latest industry needs, a memorandum of agreement was signed between the government of Assam and Tata Technologies Limited in the presence of Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma in Guwahati on Wednesday (May 11).
Principal Secretary skill, employment and entrepreneurship department, the government of Assam B. Kalyan Chakravarthy and MD Tata Technologies Limited Warren Harris signed the Memorandum of Agreement under which 34 polytechnic colleges and 43 ITIs will be transformed into centres of excellence to train and empower the youth in tune with the industry requirements and industry 4.0.
Speaking on occasion, Chief Minister Dr Sarma termed the day historical in the parlance of higher education and skill empowerment. He said, “While celebrating one year in office of the present State government, we made certain commitments. We resolved to make every moment for the development of Assam. True to its commitment, our government has entered into a memorandum of agreement to bring about a paradigm shift for the improvement of technical education in our state.”
Stating about the inauguration of Gunotsav 2022, which has aimed at bringing about qualitative development of education in the state, Chief Minister Dr Sarma said that the partnership with Tata Technologies Limited would unleash a transformative phase of education in consonance with the need for the fourth industrial revolution characterized by interconnectivity and smart automation.
As a part of the new initiative, Tata Technologies Limited will invest Rs. 2390 crore while the State government will contribute Rs. 366 crore with 12000 sq ft area for each technical institute to set up technology labs and workshops. Along with labs State government will spend Rs. 800 crore for the joint initiative.
The Chief Minister also said that to empower the students of Assam technically and make them fit for Industry 4.0 as a result of this joint initiative, Assam will produce 15 to 20 thousand technically efficient youth in the state. The entire upgrade project will take off by May 10 2023, as PWD (Building) will implement the project under the expertise of Tata Technologies Limited. Referring to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who said that the youth of Assam need to go out, Dr Sarma said that in order to excel, the state’s youth have to go outside Assam to increase the jurisdiction of their role. Contrary to the stereotyped thoughts, the youth of Assam should be acquainted with the rapid change in technology to remain relevant in the digital world.
Stating the partnership in cancer care with Tata, Chief Minister Dr Sarma thanked Chairman Tata Technologies Limited S. Ramadorai for his initiative in helping the State government in deepening its ties with Tata. He also said that the new partnership would promote the state’s technical education in sync with the latest industry requirement.
It may be noted that the project involves two departments, namely Higher Education and Skill Employment and Entrepreneurship, and aims to introduce new courses/ trades, providing modern machinery and equipment and training of faculty in the institutions.
