Sundargarh (Odisha): Whether you are a student or a job aspirant, skill makes the real difference in achieving your dream career! Equipped with a positive attitude and supported with the right skills, one can expand his or her wings to soar high. Nikhil Pavan Kalyan, a young and dynamic IAS officer, presently posted as Collector and DM of tribal dominated Sundargarh district in Odisha, has strived to implement a couple of unique welfare programmes in sync with the idea, ultimately yielding benefits to many youth of the region.

Sundargarh, a mining district in the western part of Odisha, has a sizable tribal population. Moreover, a majority live in the rural pockets and mining affected belts wherein many youth face a diverse set of challenges in cracking their dream career due to non-accessibility of modern skill and coaching programmes. As a model of good governance to bridge the gap and create ample opportunities for those educated youth the District Administration of Sundargarh, led by Nikhil Pavan Kalyan, has introduced a 3-month pre-recruitment coaching programme called ‘Sudakshya’.

‘Sudakshya’, as the title suggests, is a free skill development programme aimed at training educated youth for employment in key sectors like banking and insurance, railways, police, military and paramilitary, Staff Selection Commission, and so on. With financial support of the District Mineral Foundation (DMF), the programme houses 50 selected candidates per batch per centre. These centres spread across Sundargarh, Panposh (Rourkela) and Bonai subdivisions.

Now take the case of meritorious students of the district, especially from the mining affected, poor and general families, who struggle to crack all India level entrance examinations like IIT, JEE, NEET and CLAT, etc. Many among them do not get opportunity or access to proper coaching and mentorship for the same. Understanding the need of such deserving candidates, Sundargarh District Administration has also introduced a free coaching programme for Metric and Plus Two (appearing and pass) students with Kota (Rajasthan) based faculties. Sponsored by the DMF Sundargarh, the programme has admitted 446 students in the first batch through three coaching centres.

“The free IIT, JEE coaching programme instituted in the district is aligned with the vision of our Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. We aim to facilitate premier coaching to eligible youngsters of rural and mining pockets in Sundargarh. This initiative will help children from tribal families, economically weaker sections and others to fulfill their dreams,” informs Sundargarh Collector and DM Nikhil Pawan Kalyan. “While, the IIT JEE free coaching programme helps students to secure seats in higher education institutions, ‘Sudakshya’ initiative prepares educated youth of the district to crack their dream jobs,” adds he.

“After finishing my studies, I applied for various government exams with self preparation. However, I did not know how to crack these competitive tests. But with a free coaching programme under ‘Sudakshya’ I tasted success. I have recently been appointed as the Junior Revenue Assistant at Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) Sundargarh,” Nutap Behera, an educated youth from Sundargarh district shares his success story.

‘Sudakshya’ has been instrumental in fulfilling the dreams of many educated young boys and girls in the district. The specialized skill development programme, started from February 2021, is running its fourth batch now. With free coaching, food and accommodation, uniform, study materials and round the clock internet facility, educated youngsters from poor, tribal and middle class families in the district have been able to augment their skills and crack jobs in various government and private organizations. As many as 245 candidates have secured their career so far under this initiative.

“Many educated youth of the district lack adequate exposure and coaching to score in various job interviews. At ‘Sudakshya’ centres, we train them on subjects like mathematics and reasoning, general knowledge, computers, personality development, and communication skills, etc. Besides, regular weekly tests and mock interviews are also held for them. Textbooks and previous exam question papers are also provided for each candidate helping them to prepare better. Especially, aspirants of police, armed and paramilitary forces are being trained accordingly for a test of physical ability,” narrates Nikhil Pavan Kalyan while giving detail on the programme.

“I aspired to become a doctor. My family, comprising my mother and four siblings, had to struggle for survival after the death of my father. It became extremely difficult for my mother to run the family. I had almost suppressed my ambition. But, when I came across the free IIT JEE coaching facility introduced by our district administration, my dreams were revived,” says Biswajit Kujur, a student from Kutra block of Sundargarh district. Biswajit, who joined the free coaching class at Sundargarh centre, is confident of cracking NEET with good scores and getting admission to a reputed medical college.

With this innovative initiative, free coaching facility is being provided to students from tribal and rural areas so that they can better prepare themselves to clear national level entrance tests such as JEE, IIT, NEET, CLAT and NATA, etc., for admission to engineering, medicine, law and architecture in reputed institutions across the country. The administration has strategically opened the coaching centres at Sundargarh, Rourkela and Rajgangpur. The students, selected from Class X to XII on the basis of their marks, are coached by experienced faculty. Under the programme, the students are provided with free books, study materials, uniform and internet facilities. They also get free food and accommodation.

The skill development initiatives under this dynamic and tech-savvy bureaucrat’s vision are not limited to the above mentioned programmes. Exploring the resources of DMF, the district has been sponsoring various mining affected youth for a career in Hotel and Hospitality Management, Culinary Arts and Confectionery and Patisserie at the State Institute of Hotel Management (SIHM), Balangir. The full course fee along with hostel charges is borne by the Sundargarh district administration.

Moreover, under the Odisha Skill Development Authority (OSDA), many tribal and under-privileged boys and girls have been provided with skill opportunities through various short-term programmes in Sundargarh district. The local administration promotes the same and extends all support to the potential candidates who secure livelihood within and outside the state.

In the last couple of years, Sundargarh has been able to successfully introduce many such skill development programmes rightly utilizing the resources available with it. The programme also includes hundreds of adolescent girls and women who were given life skills training. Under the Odisha Knowledge Corporation Limited (OKCL), the local youth is also given soft skills and computer training to hone their skills in the new age. /BI/

ENDS