Photo 1: Mr. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT – Madras award diploma to a student in the presence of Mr. P Padmakumar, Head-Human Resources, Saint-Gobain India (P) Ltd – Glass Business & Head- Corporate Social Responsibility, Saint-Gobain India (P) Ltd, Mr. B Santhanam, President and MD – Flat Glass South Asia, Egypt and Malaysia Saint-Gobain India (P) Ltd and Mr. R. Ramanujam, Chairman, Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF)
Photo 2: L -> R: Mr. P Padmakumar, Head-Human Resources, Saint-Gobain India (P) Ltd – Glass Business & Head- Corporate Social Responsibility, Saint-Gobain India (P) Ltd, Mr. B Santhanam, President and MD – Flat Glass South Asia, Egypt and Malaysia Saint-Gobain India (P) Ltd and Mr. N Raghuraj Managing Director, Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF)
Dignitaries from Saint-Gobain and NTTF with the prize winners.
54 school passouts from socially and economically disadvantaged background, received their Diploma in Manufacturing Technology through Saint-Gobain’s “Learn while Earn” (LWE), an initiative to develop industry ready talent for Manufacturing.
- Saint-Gobain to educate and train 400 Diploma Graduates by 2020.
- First Convocation of LWE Graduands was held during India Skills Week 2016
Chennai, 14th July 2016: Saint-Gobain India Private Limited-Glass Business, the world leader in flat glass products and solutions, today, held the First Convocation of Saint-Gobain – NTTF flagship Skill & Talent Development initiative LWE at the Music Academy, Chennai. The Chief Guest for the occasion Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras delivered the presidential address and along with Mr. B. Santhanam, President and MD, Flat Glass – South Asia, Malaysia & Egypt Saint-Gobain India (P) Ltd. awarded Diplomas to the graduands. Saint-Gobain by 2020 will graduate 400 well-rounded industry ready, talented diplomas in Manufacturing Technology.
A total of 54 students, from socially and economically disadvantaged background, graduated with Diplomas in Manufacturing Technology. 6 academic toppers received outstanding performance medals during the ceremony.
LWE jointly conceived by Saint-Gobain and NTTF (an Indo-Swiss Collaboration) to find a practical way to train and educate socially and economically disadvantaged adolescents with industrial skills and formal education thereby improving the quality of technical education and developing a highly employable, competent talent-force for Manufacturing.
The program was officially launched in 2012 with a curriculum that incorporated 1164 hours theoretical learning and 8320 hours of practical exposure, spread over a span of 4 years. Each student is paid a Scholarship of 66,000 per annum in the first year progressively reaching 120,000 per annum in the fourth year. Proof of the success of the program is that 53 students have become employees of Saint-Gobain with one becoming an entrepreneur. By 2020, the company’s objective is that all fresh Diploma Engineer recruitment will be through the LWE program.
Speaking on the initiative, Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras said, “Skill development & Education is key to our economy, especially for Manufacturing and an essential component of ‘Make in India’. Saint-Gobain’s commitment to develop a competent manufacturing talent-force is truly commendable. As academicians, we are constantly identifying and nurturing talents in our students. The LWE program had demonstrated a replicable pathway that reaches out to socially and economically disadvantaged adolescents empower them with skills & education and transform them into industry-ready professionals.
Encouraged by the successful completion of LWE’s first batch, Mr. Santhanam, President and MD, Flat Glass – South Asia, Malaysia & Egypt Saint-Gobain India said, “It has been a challenging four years to sustain the program against odds. It is gratifying to note that 49 of them have chosen to join our company even when they have opportunities outside. Saint-Gobain strongly urges industries across the country to come together to adopt the LWE model, form Clusters, Connect, Collaborate to Create the next generation Manufacturing talent that combines theory with workplace knowledge. We envisage that 10 LWE clusters in the state of Tamil Nadu can be formed to graduate 2000 students each. These 20,000 highly skilled and educated talent can bridge the acute gap we face in Manufacturing Industries today.”
Mr. P. Padmakumar, Head-Human Resources, Saint-Gobain India (P) Ltd – Glass Business & Head- Corporate Social Responsibility, Saint-Gobain India said, “When we began the selection process for over first LWE batch, we faced strong resistance from parents. Our innovative Scholarship model that allocates monetary assistance to the family, in addition to a lumpsum given to each student post completion, combined with constant connect with families, we were able to win the confidence of the parents and students. The close monitoring by Parents through regular Parent –Teacher meetings contributed to low attrition rate. We are very excited to see our adolescent students transform into confident and industry-ready talent.
“Our education system can further be strengthened by integrating on-floor training modules in addition to imparting theoretical knowledge. NTTF strongly believes in empowering students with holistic education that encompasses technical expertise with soft skills. The quality of students that graduate this year stands testimony to a well-developed association with a committed corporate partner like Saint-Gobain.” added, Mr. N. Raghuraj, Managing Director, Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF).
About Saint-Gobain India (P) Ltd – Glass Business:
Saint-Gobain’s Glass business in India started operations in the year 2000 in Chennai. It has cumulatively invested over Rs 3500 crores with plants in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan. Saint-Gobain pioneered several Product, Marketing, Manufacturing, Application, Sustainability and Human Resources Innovations that helped in the emergence of product differentiation, segmentation and knowledge / skill development in what was seen as a commodity industry.
Within the global framework of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the Saint-Gobain Group in India focuses on, specific priority actions under each of the areas of Education& Employability, Health and Hygiene, Infrastructure and Disaster Relief. In addition, as an important element of its Corporate Social Responsibility, the Group in India lays great emphasis in ensuring that its business practices meet the highest standards of corporate governance and ethics.
More at: in.saint-gobain-glass.com
About Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF):
NTTF – an educational foundation established in the year 1963 – is the living symbol of Indo-Swiss co-operation; aimed at promoting purposeful Technical Education for the youth of India. The seed was put in place at Thalassery (Kerala), in the year 1959. In its mission, the Foundation was actively supported with generous assistance from the Government of Switzerland, HEKS (a Swiss NGO), and Swiss Development Co-operation (a development agency in Switzerland). The Government of India and the State Governments also extended their support.
The Foundation implements its program of Technical Training through more than 20 Training Centres located in various States across India. NTTF assists industries, through its special collaborative initiative for producing quality manpower, by establishing training centres in partnership with industry associations. NTTF is an ISO 9001 Certified institution.
