-           25 girls from plant site enroll for vocational training at KISS, KIIT, Bhubaneswar

-           Training expenses to be borne by POSCO- India

 

Kujang, March 19, 2007: Bhubaneswar, Mar 20, 2007: A batch of 25 women from proposed plant site of POSCO-India was inducted today at Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, a constituent of KIIT Deemed University, Bhubaneswar for vocational training in Dress making. CMD, POSCO-India Mr. Soung-sik Cho with other officials from the company, Chancellor of KIIT, Dr.Achyut Samant , Mr. P. K. Das, Director, Livelihood, KISS and senior KIIT authorities participated and extended a warm welcome to the candidates in the inaugural ceremony held today.

Among the 25 trainees, 10 are from Nuagaon, five from Govindpur, three from Polanga and the rest are from Gadakujanga GP. Most of the trainees are within the age group of 18 to 28 years and are under matriculates. Accordingly the course curriculum has been designed to create interest among the candidates and to help them to earn their livelihood in future. The trainees will be given separate training on modern trendy designs, besides other regular dress making and tailoring skills.

The training will continue for six months and the entire expenses along with lodging and boarding for the trainees would be borne by POSCO-India. The progamme is aimed at improving the employability prospects of these trainees.

The inaugural ceremony kicked off with the welcome speech by Dr. A. Samanta, Chancellor, KIIT University. Mr. R. N. Dash, Director, Technical Education and Training congratulated the trainees for this opportunity. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Soung-Sik Cho, CMD, POSCO-India said, “The Company intends to give equal emphasis to the skill development of women in this vocational training programme. After the induction of first two male batches from the plant site, the current initiative is aimed at creating employment opportunity for women”. Mr. P. K. Das, Director, Livelihood, KISS was also present in the ceremony to encourage the trainees.

This endeavour is in line with the company’s commitment to improve the employability of wider section of the people in the plant site. The earlier two batches initiated by the company are pursuing their vocational education at DRIET, Jagatsinghpur. The first batch with 33 youths joined training in December 2006, while the second batch with 23 youths joined in January 2006.

Meanwhile, the company has started the ground preparation for a Training Centre at Sandhakuda, Paradeep and the first phase construction is expected to be completed by Oct 2007. The Training Centre will provide high quality training in various disciplines not only to POSCO-India employees but also to the locals leading to better employment opportunities.


About POSCO-India

POSCO-India Private Limited is a subsidiary of POSCO, the world’s No. 3 steel producer and one of the most competitive steel companies. POSCO signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Orissa in June 2005, to set up a 12-mtpa green field steel plant near Paradip, Jagatsinghpur District, Orissa, with an estimated investment of USD12 billion. The company will build a 4 million tonne capacity steel plant in Orissa, during the first phase of its project between 2007 and 2010 and expand the final production volume to 12 million tonnes. POSCO-India Pvt. Ltd. was incorporated in 25th August 2005 with the Registrar of Companies, Orissa, under the Companies Act 1956.