Free training programme launched for college students in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: Minister for youth welfare and sports Udhayanidhi Stalin on Tuesday launched a free training programme under the Naan Mudhalvan scheme to help Tamil Nadu college students prepare for competitive exams.
“Tamil Nadu students are preparing for TNPSC exams. But they are not showing interest in writing competitive exams for Union government jobs. Recruitment agencies like SSC, RRB and UPSC and banking sector have filled several thousand jobs and a very few from Tamil Nadu have joined them. It should change,” Udhayanidhi said after inaugurating the training programme.
He said competitive exam training centres are in cities like Chennai and students have to spend lakhs of rupees to study in these centres.
“Students from rural areas are not able to prepare for competitive exams. It affects their job opportunities. Under this scheme, college students will be trained for free. It would help them join Union government jobs. Our goal is to see more Tamils in Union government offices in Tamil Nadu,” he added.
T Udhayachandran, secretary of special programme implementation, said the number of students clearing UPSC exams from Tamil Nadu was coming down.
“We are concerned that the Tamil Nadu students are lagging in competitive exams. Other exams like RRB, SSC also have low representation. We wanted to change this by identifying talented students early and training them during their degree programmes in colleges,” he said.
“In next two to three years, we want more students from Tamil Nadu to work in Union government jobs. That’s why we are launching these training for competitive exams as part of the Naan Mudhalvan scheme,” he added.
Naan Mudhalvan is a skilling programme launched by the state government to provide vocational training to college students and make them industry ready.
Higher education minister K Ponmudy said the Naan Mudhalvan scheme would be extended to arts and science colleges from next academic year.
Minister for labour welfare and skilling C V Ganesan and others spoke at the event.