Toyota Kirloskar launches Technical Education programme

Bangalore, Aug 31 (UNI) Auto major Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), in conjunction with Toyota Motor Corporation and its nationwide dealer network, has introduced a unique apprentice-training initiative - The Toyota Technical Education Programme (T-TEP) - at the Deshpande Institute of Vocational Training (DIVT) in Haliyal in Uttara Kannaada district of Karnataka.

The programme was today formally launched at DIVT by Union Minister Oscar Fernandes.

TKM, in a release here, said T-TEP in India was a special training module, aimed at enhancing the skill sets and employability of ITI students in the 15-18 age group. Technical manpower available in India suffered from low certification rates and was not trained for repair and diagnostics. T-TEP hoped to bridge these gaps by partnering with industrial training institutes and jointly working with its dealers over the next four years.

''Toyota firmly believes in enhancing the quality of the society through education, which in turn would lead to better employment.

Through the partnership with DIVT, we plan to enhance the technical ingenuity of the students and equip them better for the auto industry. The Institute will be able to use T-TEP to its advantage by placing students in the growing auto industry in South India,'' TKM Deputy Managing Director K K Swamy said.

In the first phase of the programme, TKM had partnered with three other technical training institutes - Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Industrial Training Centre in New Delhi, Mohanmull Chordia Jain Industrial Training Centre in Chennai and St Joseph's Industrial Training Institute (Don Bosco Industrial Institute) in Mumbai.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Fernandes said ''through the Toyota Technical Education Programme, Toyota Kirloskar Motor will help meet the demand for trained technicians required for the growing auto industry in India.'' TKM would partner with 20 technical institutes across the country by 2010 and would be investing approximately Rs 25 crore for TTEP implementation in the country, benefitting over 1,000 technical institute students. TKM would train the institute instructors with the latest technology used at Toyota. Toyota Motor Corporation would fund the project along with providing T-TEP hi-tech training kits, including Toyota service training manuals, the release said.

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