“The training is God’s gift to us. I am a completely changed man. Now I can think of setting up my own business in the IT field. Do you know, I even have the ability to create my own games,” says 31-year-old graduate Lalchungnunga. “I think my future will be bright after the course, I didn’t even know how to use a mouse when I came here. Now I am confident of starting an IT company,” says 28-year-old JH Lallungmuana.

However, both the students who are part of the first batch of professionals passing out of the centre have one worry – the poor Internet connectivity in the State and the serious impact this could have on their future plans. The Mizoram Government agrees that this is a grave concern at a time when it is trying to give a big thrust to IT education. “BSNL broadband connectivity is very limited and often interrupted. It needs tremendous improvement. We have also been asking Power Grid Corporation to set up infrastructure here, but have not received a positive response yet,” says Mr Lalthlamuana, Deputy Secretary (IT) in the Mizoram Government, who has put the project in place.

As for New Horizons, a US-based company that made its entry into the Indian IT training and education space in 2002 with a joint venture with Shriram Group company, Shriram Global Technologies & Education Ltd, this is a novel project. “It is not so much the economic rewards but to be able to include the north eastern region in the IT revolution. They had been ignored till now. Our endeavour was to create an example in the PPP space. On the cards are similar projects in all the north-eastern states and we have bid for them too,” says the President and CEO, Mr Ajay Sharma, New Horizons India Ltd. According to him, the second phase of the plan involves training 5000 students across the seven sister states of the region.