By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
Kolkata : The West Bengal State Hajj Committee along with some city-based organisations including Educational Support Council and Students Education Trust have jointly launched a training programme for students belonging to deprived sections of the Muslim community, to enable them to secure jobs in call centres.
Counselling for admission to the training session already started on February 17.
"It is a 16-week programme that will be offered free of cost to graduates and undergraduate students. We have received an overwhelming response. Around 3,500 students have applied and we are in the process of selecting candidates. The training programme will begin on March 9 and will be held on Sundays, in three-hour sessions. The Hajj Committee has offered the premises of Hajj House for free for conducting the course," said Jawaid Akhtar of ESC.
He further said that earlier they had thought of training around 300 candidates. But with increasing number of applications, they will now make arrangements for around 800 students.
The minorities department is also likely to support this new project.
"Let us see how it works out. There is good response. We will assess. We are interested in supporting such projects," Abdus Sattar, chairman of State Hajj Committee and Minister of State for Minorities was reported as saying.
The call centre experiment is expected to set the pace for other minorities’ organisations. "Almost half of the applicants are girls. These include girls who wear purdah (veil)," said ESC secretary S Ahmed.