The largest car manufacturer in the country, Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) has declared a unique scheme designed exclusively to offer higher education to its shop floor technicians. MSIL inked a MoU with Haryana State Board of Technical Education (HSBTE) and Haryana-IGNOU Society for Community Education and Training (HISCET) in this direction. Shop floor technicians can now opt for a three year diploma course in engineering as a part of this initiative.
Additional Secretary, HSBTE, K.K. Kataria, Member Secretary, HISCET, Mukesh Chadha and Executive Director, IT, MSIL, Rajesh Uppal were present during the signing of the MoU. Several other state government officials including the Principal Secretary, Technical Education Department, Haryana, Dhanpat Singh and its Director General, Dr. Avtar Singh too were present on the occasion. Besides these, many senior officials from HISCET and HSBTE were present as well. Chief Operating Officer (COO), Administration, Maruti Suzuki, S.Y. Siddiqui and COO, Production, M.M. Singh represented the top management of the car maker during the signing.
This higher education initiative by the car maker has been christened as 'Gyanuday' that will help the existing human resources to upgrade their knowledge and skills to meet the possible future business needs of the company.
S.Y. Siddiqui highlighted the benefits of the programme saying, “This is a unique initiative, the first of its kind in the industry, where shop floor employees can acquire an engineering qualification. Usually, higher education opportunities are offered at executive level in corporates. But at MSIL, it will be in the reverse order and a shop-floor technician will get an opportunity to acquire higher education. This initiative will address the career aspirations of the technician colleagues. It is also a significant move to align with the national skill up-gradation programme to create a pool of trained and skilled manpower.”
Further clarifying the benefits, M.M. Singh, stated, “We see this higher education programme as a positive engagement opportunity with our colleagues at the shop-floor. With this initiative, the company has taken a long term career progression view of shop floor technicians. A special team was set up internally to study the demand of industry and the course was designed around those specific manufacturing needs. This is a capability building exercise for technicians at Maruti Suzuki and we are confident many people would benefit from this special initiative. Going ahead, will help us build a talent pool of supervisors for the Company’s future expansion needs.”
'Gyanuday' has been designed by a special in-house team of Maruti Suzuki that specialises in handling the challenges faced during the manufacturing process. The technicians working at MSIL's Gurgaon and Manesar plant will be able to avail the program on satisfying the eligibility criteria, which include a minimum tenure of 3 years at MSIL. Through this initiative the company will offer a three year diploma through part time classes. These classes will be held in the fields of Mechanical, Electrical and Electronics engineering. HISCET will conduct an entrance exam for the course and the meritorious candidates will be selected. The course will encompass a total of 6 semesters covering 24 subjects with 4 subjects in each semester and 4 practicals. The course syllabus and modules have been customised by the car maker. The HISCET campus at Manesar will host the classes 4 days a week.
Maruti Suzuki will extend its full support to the workers who will be pursuing the course. Besides bearing half of the fees for the course, MSIL will also offer an interest free loan for the remaining half to the candidates who perform excellently well in the entrance test. Technicians can also avail special leaves from work during the exam period. Those technicians who would complete the course with 60 per cent marks of equivalent CGPA will be considered for the post of supervisor. The course will provide the employees huge career growth opportunities by honing their knowledge base and skill set.
HISCET is an independent unit created by the Technical Education Department of Haryana government. The educational body has been set-up with an aim to eliminate the dearth of skill in the state by providing vocational or technical education. Initially it has started its operations by offering five tailor-made courses certified by IGNOU viz. Diploma in BPO, Finance & Accounting, Fire Safety, Security Management, Front Office Management and Housekeeping.
