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Safeducate, a subsidiary of the ₹2,000-crore supply chain and logistics major Safexpress, plans to train and skill up to 70,000 youths in 10 States in 2018-19 for a career in logistics, supply chain and e-commerce sectors.
A third of these youths will get training in recycled scrap containers-turned-moveable classrooms while the remaining will be accommodated in rented residential facilities across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Assam and Odisha, Divya Jain, Founder-CEO, Safeducate, told BusinessLine . She calls it a ‘social enterprise’.
The initiative is being part-funded by the Union Ministry for Skill Development under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana and the Skill India Mission. India’s first container school, created by Safeducate, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July 2015.
Container school
“About 80 per cent of the nearly 10,000 youths we imparted skills since 2017 in the first phase of the Container School Training Programme in tier-3 towns and rural India have been absorbed in sectors like logistics, retail and e-commerce so far,” she said.
Two to eight containers are required to make one such school. These 10,000 youths, trained in container classrooms, located on Safexpress warehouses, were among the total 35,000 trainees.
Second phase
The second phase of the drive, aiming to train 70,000 this year, was launched last week.
So far, Safeducate has turned nearly 35 scrap containers, measuring 40 ft each, into colourful, air-conditioned classrooms running on solar power for a logistics training school.
Instead of sending the drab container to the scrapyard, it is refurbished into a classroom at a cost of ₹7-9 lakh to accommodate 25 students at a time. Their training period varies from three to six months.
Jain, a former investment banker, said Safeducate’s programme is part of its CSR activity and the trainees are skilled free-of-cost. The company also gets funding from the Central and State governments. Safeducate has around 550 faculty and staff.
The first school opened at Ambala, Haryana, in July 2015. Currently container schools are located at Binola (Haryana), Chhapra (Bihar), and Amritsar (Punjab).
Expanding operations
The second phase of the Container School Programme is aimed at expanding its geographical reach and doubling the base of beneficiaries.
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