Soft Skills Training

Tamil Nadu Foundation

Soft Skills Training

In Tamil Nadu, passing 10th grade is absolutely required to be employable. The future for those who have not passed 10th grade is pretty grim. Mrs. Andal Domodran, former chair of the board of trustees, urged TNF Chennai chapter to initiate a project to improve the 10th grade passing rate through a program to motivate students.
Previous slide
Next slide

Background

TNF center chapter tried to develop a two-day program for the high schools of Tamil Nadu that would be similar to the career guidance program TNF started at Engineering College, Guindy, Chennai. But the issues for high school students were very different. The high school program had to be affordable, and TNF needed to be able to take the program to schools. Also, TNF needed to convince the heads of the schools that the program would deliver what it promised since the students would be away from regular classes for two days.

 

At first, TNF was not very successful in developing the program to meet all the requirements. But when a discussion of the training came up at a board of trustees meeting held at project site, Ponneri Library, M.N. Reguraj, Trustee, offered a solution. He is president of Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF), and he offered materials and trainers from the two-day soft skill training that were offered to all the students of NTTF Bangalore.

 

NTTF Bangalore is the biggest training center in South East Asia. NTTF has 23 Training Institutes throughout India, and annually trains about 8,000 students in various job skills. This training can be 3 months to 3 years. TNF accepted Mr. Reguraj’s offer. Under the informal agreement, NTTF provides two trainers and the training material. All the expenses related to training will be paid by TNF, including travel expenses, boarding and lodging as well as expenses at the training locations. The training would be brought to the students in their schools.

 

The two-day soft-skills program covers a number of specific areas on each day. On the first day the following subjects are covered.

 

  • Knowing the game – personal details, strengths and weaknesses
  • Analysis of weaknesses – how to convert weakness into strength
  • Communication
  • Concentration – listening, reading, understanding
  • Memory improvement
  • Presentation skill
  • Communication game

 

And in the second day these following subjects are covered,

 

  • Thought for the day
  • Time management
  • Health and personal hygiene
  • Civic sense
  • Confidence building
  • Memory improving exercise
  • How to prepare for the examination and overcome fear
  • Career planning – different courses and job opportunities
  • Feedback

 

As of May 2014, TNF has trained 1450 students in 33 schools in 7 districts. Fund availability at TNF center will determine the number schools the training will be offered. TNF has also started the process of “train the trainer program”, to eliminate the dependency on NTTF.