BIS #5258 KNOWLEDGE SHARING WITH AFRICAN DELEGATES



by AMARR PRABHU

MUMBAI, NOV 20, 2017: St Joseph's Industrial Training Institute (SJITI) and Don Bosco Tech joined forces with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and World Bank to organise a five day 'Knowledge Sharing Workshop' for an African delegation from six African countries namely Rwanda, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Senegal, Tanzania, and Ghana at the Don Bosco Kurla campus.

The central theme of the workshop was capacity building and knowledge exchange support from India for Africa. The African countries that participated in the PASET Forum requested support and knowledge exchange with India in the area of skill development (SD) and vocational education.

The workshop included a discussion with Indian counterparts at the national level and field visits to two states, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The key objective of the knowledge exchange mission was to identify the challenges of addressing the skill development needs of the informal sector across both nations, discussing strategies for enhancing labour force productivity through institutional reforms at the national and state levels both in India and Africa.

The aim was to also study innovative models of employer led skilling strategies for enhancing industry competitiveness, study the role of the federal and state governments and key institutional reforms for successful delivery of skill training and to discuss longer formal training systems under TVET and its delivery models.

St Joseph's ITI was chosen as one of the few credible institutions in India for study and interaction. On November 2, SJITI hosted a large delegation of around 18 people which include 10 from Africa, four from World Bank, two from NSDC and two from Maharashtra State Skill Mission.
 
The foreign delegation is currently visiting India to study and learn how the country is dealing with the skill gap issue and what models, methods, tools and techniques are effectively used to address the issue.

The delegation was welcomed to Don Bosco Centre for Learning by Father Colbert da Silva, the Director, and Amarr G Prabhu, the Principal of St Joseph's ITI. They were then escorted to the institute with the traditional Lezim. They then visited the various workshops and interacted with the staff and students to understand the methodology adopted in the acquisition of a vocational skill.

The delegation also went for a brief orientation of the campus and had a question answer session with the management. They were impressed with St. Joseph ITI's focus on quality-oriented skill training, which is unmatched in the country today.