REACH second centre in Kannur

The second centre of the Kerala Government's Resources Enhancement Academy for Career Heights (REACH) is to be opened in Kannur on March 2.

The REACH programme, launched by the Kerala State Women Development Corporation (KSWDC), is the first ever initiative of the kind by a State Government agency anywhere in the country.

The main feature of the programme, which was inaugurated in Thiruvananthapuram in December 2009 with the objective of fine-tuning the inherent skills of women and college girls, is that 70 per cent of the seats are reserved for below-the-poverty-line (BPL) students with 100 per cent of fees waived for them. Students other than from the BPL category are charged nominal fees.

Employment

According to Mr P.T.M. Sunish, Managing Director, KSWDC, the institute offers finishing programme for office assistants with communicative English, personality development, IT, tally financial accounting and administrative skills as major highlights. REACH also extends a training programme in customer service and billing with Plus 2 as basic qualification.

IT also offers 45 days' training programme for International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

Mr. Sunish said that more than 25 business groups, including Tata Indicom, Tata Docomo, More, Hercules, Lantern, Videocon, Kodak Life Insurance and Idea Cellular, had given placement to girls and women who completed finishing school training in REACH.

Besides, several organisations belonging to governments and the corporate sector had approached REACH seeking potential employees for their entities, Mr. Sunish said.