From ABC To JKC

• JKCs across the state train underprivileged children in English communication and computer skills
  
• Last month, Infosys recruited 2,181 JKC students for its IT and BPO wings
  
• Ninety per cent of the recruits were rural youth from economically weak backgrounds
  
• Thanks to JKCs, sons and daughters of labourers, hawkers, beedi workers have landed jobs with five-figure salaries
  
• Karnataka, Rajasthan, Orissa and Tamil Nadu plan to follow AP's lead

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Set up in December 2005, JKCs have expanded from an initial 11 centres to 29 now, and another 50 extension centres, altogether training 20,000 students across the state. A JKC is basically a lab with 50 seated, high-end computers all of which are connected to a Local Area Network. The JKCs offer intensive 300 hours of training in English communication, reasoning, aptitude and computer skills. Students are given an opportunity to execute live projects and obtain employable skills. Campus recruitments follow as a rule.

"The aim of this programme is to make students employable and equip them with industry-related skills," says commissioner of collegiate education, K. Lakshminarayana. "We have students who are children of vegetable vendors, coolies, hawkers, beedi workers and agricultural labourers landing jobs in MNCs with starting salaries of Rs 17,000," he says. "Lives of families undergo a sea change. The parents of one student (both daily-wagers) who was recruited by Infosys went about telling people that their son had landed a job in a palace when they saw the Infosys campus."

Since English is a major hurdle for students from a rural background, the JKCs lay special emphasis on functional English proficiency, pronunciation and communication. The AP government has tied up with the US state department to impart training to 260 English lecturers across the state. The 100-hour English programme has been developed after extensive research on the needs of students. Teachers are being trained to turn the classrooms into student-centric ones where every youngster is encouraged to develop his or her speaking skills.

George Bishop Jr from the Washington-based School for International Training has been training teachers from remote villages in AP to act as English mentors in JKCs. "It's all about drawing out the students and shifting focus from the lecture format. I tell these teachers to focus on CBMs, confidence building measures," says Bishop. "Given the limited infrastructure these teachers and students have access to, I'd say the success rate is amazing."

With 8,000 more students lined up for interviews in April after their exams, and companies like Wipro, Dell, Satyam, ICICI Prudential and Cipla waiting to recruit, the future seems bright for students. But what's in it for companies like Infosys? David Rapaka, central information officer, AP state collegiate education, has this explanation: "Job aspirants from JKCs are not only motivated, given their background, they're also not part of the job-hopping brigade. This appeals to MNCs fed up with the high attrition rates among their employees."

Quite a few of the recruited students are from backward sections too. For instance, out of the 211 students selected in Anantapur, 96 are BCs, SCs or STs. In Khammam, of the 92 shortlisted, 60 are BCs, SCs and STs. In Hyderabad, 85 of the 301 chosen are from weaker sections. States like Rajasthan, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are looking to build training centres based on the JKC model where employment for students hailing from B and C class towns is stressed.

With a modest beginning of 354 placements in 2006, 1,566 in 2007 and 2,181 already in January 2008, AP is planning to train 50,000 students across the state by 2009. Infosys has been so impressed with the quality of recruits that it has already launched an advance screening test for students undergoing the JKC programme. "One look at the joyful faces of those who have found jobs," says Lakshminarayana, "and you realise that knowledge is worth its weight in gold."