Vocational training institute
It is the mission of CSP to enable Below Poverty Line children to break the vicious cycle of inherited poverty by: 1) empowering mainstream educational process; 2) inculcating income generational vocational skills to those whom the educational system has already bypassed.
The Vocational Training Institute is directed to towards those whom the educational system has already bypassed leaving them bereft of a future.
School drop-outs can compete for jobs only if they are trained in technical skills. Kolkata’s fast moving IT and Real Estate sectors have set off a growing demand for technical support and building maintenance skills. CSP focuses on training for school dropouts to qualify for employment in these new sectors.
CSP’s Vocational Training Institute was started with funds provided by Lloyds TSB Foundation routed through South Asia Voluntary Enterprise (SAVE) of Scotland. The Institute functions from 17B/1A Dover Terrace, Kolkata 700019 and operates in the afternoons and evenings of each day except Sunday.
Training courses on computer literacy, electrical jobwork and plumbing are conducted for underprivileged youth from the slums and streets of Kolkata. The training leads to certification, and to placements as professional apprentices in the following streams.
• Electrical
• Plumbing
• Computer
• Security Services
• Housekeeping
Girls’ craft centre
Initiated in 1978, the Girls’ Craft Centre, which was renamed as Kalyani Karlekar Shilpa Shikshalya, is organised for older girls and women for training and earning by needle work, tailoring and knitting. Products range from dresses, embroidered saris, lace, and zari (gold) thread work to jute bags, carpets and various articles of household use. All uniforms and other clothes of the learners and inmates of the Home are made by them. Girls with education up to standard VIII of high school are trained and sent up for the Lady Brabourne Diploma Examinations of the Government of West Bengal.
The Centre functions on Tuesdays to Saturdays between 1 to 5 p.m.
The Centre is managed by a Governing Body member and 4 teachers.
Currently there are 35 trainees in the centre.