By Y.S. RANA, CHANDIGARH— Chandigarh Administration has decided to hand over its initiative Chandigarh Training on Soft Skills (C-Toss) to the Regional Institute of Education (RIE), Chandigarh for better coordination and monitoring of the programme. Earlier, the initiative is looked after by SPIC. Aims at raising a skilled workforce from among the students and aligning their talent with the needs of the industry, it was not started from this session.
Sources in the department revealed that the Administration wanted it to be more revamped. A proper feedback mechanism has been prepared so that program should be monitored properly and be improved further. Hence, a proposal was sent to the finance department for approval. The finance department has sent the file to the Adviser to the Administrator, UT, Chandigarh for his nod to the proposal. On getting his nod to the proposal, the initiative would be handed over the RIE, stated the official.
Initially it was launched in six government schools in 2004, it has imparted soft skills to 900 students at a cost of Rs 2.5 lakh in the year. In 2008-09, about 48 government schools were brought under the ambit of C-TOSS and trained 12,056 students at the cost of Rs 107.92lakh. In 2007-08 a newly designed C-TOSS program was introduced in Class VI and Class IX apart from Class XI and XII in a bid to harmonize with the current skill sets of the students with the needs of the industry.
To extend the benefits of C-TOSS program to all the students of government schools of Chandigarh, it has been introduced in all 81 government schools in 2011-12.
The official further stated that most students remained to study and uncertain about their future. This threw up workforce though had academic knowledge but was devoid of skills necessary in the present day. “We wanted to mix academies with skills and on these lines C-TOSS has been designed for,” said the official.
Since its launch in 2004 more than 60,000 students has been trained in software and English speaking skills alongwith their studies bringing a ready-made workforce for the industry. C-TOSS thrives on the demographic advantage but without soft skills, it can turn into a huge disadvange. Besides, a number of batches of students belonging to the underprivileged and minority community have been trained in software and hardware skills, said the official.