HCCB, TS Academy for Skill & Knowledge to train 10,000 college students, impart job skills

Hyderabad: Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB), one of India's leading FMCG companies, and the Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK), will train 10,000 college students from Telangana in the next two years to help the students gain job skills.

HCCB and TASK signed an MoU on Tuesday.

Seventy per cent of the beneficiaries from this programme will be from rural areas and 30% from urban areas. HCCB and TASK launched the initiative in the presence of Jayesh Ranjan, principal secretary (industries & Commerce); Srikanth Sinha, CEO of Telangana Academy of Skills and Knowledge (TASK); Kalyan Ranjan, associate vice-president (public affairs & communication), Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages; and other dignitaries.

A kick-off training session was conducted on Tuesday which saw the participation of over 100 college students to gain insights on essential skills.

As per the MoU, the training sessions for students from urban areas will be held virtually, while those for students from rural areas will be held in physical classrooms. TASK will work on creating batches of students, identifying locations for the physical classroom sessions, and the calendar for these training sessions. HCCB on the other hand will work towards developing the content, identifying the trainers, and conducting the Train the Trainers programme (TTT) to create and expand a pool of expert trainers and conduct virtual and physical classroom sessions.

Launching the initiative, Jayesh Ranjan said TASK will also look at joint certification of skilled youth completing their training from Career Development Centre—a skill development centre being run by HCCB—in partnership with NIIT Foundation.

Speaking about the association, Srikanth Sinha, CEO of TASK, said, "TASK is steadfast in its aim to impart job skills to the youth and form partnerships with companies like HCCB, which are committed to bridging the skill gap for young students. We appreciate the association with HCCB as this sets an example for other organisations to come forward and contribute towards building a skill ecosystem in Telangana."

Kamlesh Kumar Sharma of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages said, "We are delighted to get this MoU with TASK underway and launch the initiative with the support of our Learning & Development Team. Our association with TASK will help us channel this expertise to the underserved youth in the state. We are pleased that the long-term strategic partnership that we have with the government of Telangana allows us to play a part in the growth and development of the state."

Earlier this year, HCCB and the Telangana government entered into long-term strategic partnerships for capacity-building in water and solid waste management and for skill-building to promote employment.