On Sunday 20 June in the State of West Bengal, in the INC Province, the first lessons began. Taking part were hundreds of students between 18 and 30 years of age divided into classes of 60. According to a report in the Asianews agency, in the next two years the project will expand to other Indian states with over 60,000 students benefitting from the courses.
The initiative consists of three months of free training courses in hotel management, engineering, automobile construction, tailoring and handicrafts. This is the largest programme undertaken by the government in collaboration with the Indian Catholic Church.
Fr. Robin Gomes, a Salesian missionary in Calcutta, says: "Over the last three years we have been discussing how to educate young people who are below the poverty line with the Ministry. So we saw the possibility of conducting training in a specific area of learning funded by the Ministry using the over 100 Salesian technical institutes in India".
“"We are delighted” – he adds - “to help and serve poor students and the country through this project. I hope that this cooperation between Church and government can continue in the future".
Published 13/07/2010
