Finishing school to train IT manpower in Bengal

Kolkata, Jul 23: In a bid to create industry-ready IT manpower, Bengal Chamber of Commerce has joined hands with IT industry in the state to start a training and placement cell.

Speaking to mediapersons here today, Bengal Chamber IT sub-comittee chairman R N Lahiri said the state would need two lakh IT and ITeS manpower by 2010 and there was a huge employability gap.

The engineering graduates though get theoritical training in the colleges, need some extra training to get jobs, which NASSCOM refers as employability gap.

''The engineering graduates, who pass out from the state-run and private engineering colleges in the state, lag behind in soft skills'' Mr Lahiri, who is the Principal Consultant of TCS, said.

The centre would train them for general and technical interviews, soft skills and organise placement camps.

The camps would be organised across the state in various private and government engineering colleges.

''We are in talks with 56 engineering colleges in the state, including Jadavpur University and BE college. We are also negotiating with various IT companies in the state. Our centre will work as a facilitator to act as a finishing school,'' he said.

UNI