MSME ministry, Samsung join hands to set up technical schools across India

The ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and Samsung on Monday announced a partnership to set up technical schools in MSME technology centres across India.

To begin with, 10 such schools will be set up in Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Mumbai and Varanasi, according to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the two sides in the capital on Monday.

The MSME-Samsung Technical Schools will run Samsung's advanced repair and industrial skills enhancement (ARISE2) programme.

This will provide students trade-specific training on various aspects of repair and troubleshooting for consumer electronic products, such as mobile phones, televisions, home theatres, home appliances and their related accessories, an MSME ministry release said.

The Samsung training schools would be able to train approximately 10,000 youth per year. They would find employment opportunities in various appliance manufacturing organisations, including Samsung, minister of micro, small and medium enterprises Kalraj Mishra said at the occasion.

Many of them would also be able to establish their own enterprise and service centres for repairing and maintenance of electrical and electronics goods, the minister added.

Students will also get real-time work experience at Samsung-authorised service centres, as also a chance to learn soft skills.

''The fee structure is Rs20,000 per course of three months duration. If the student cannot pay, we will arrange for a bank loan,'' said Amarendra Sinha, additional secretary and development commissioner of MSME.

B D Park, president and CEO South West Asia, Samsung Electronics, said, ''We are confident that through the Samsung ARISE2 programme, students will get hands-on experience that will make them an asset to the industry.''

Samsung has already established one such lab at the ITI in Dheerpur, Delhi, in collaboration with the Directorate of Training and Technical Education, Government of NCT and plans to establish more such labs across India.