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Nexus of Good: Wings to aspirations

Armstrong Palme leveraged Navgurukul Group’s affordable coding courses to make engineers out of rural graduates and intermediates of Northeast in just eight months

Nexus of Good: Wings to aspirations
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There is absolutely no doubt that if opportunities are given, there is nothing that rural folks cannot achieve. Accordingly, Armstrong Palme, a young IAS officer was on the lookout for something which people from the Northeast have not yet explored because of a lack of opportunities. Wherever he went, he noticed boys and girls from NE usually working in the hospitality and retail sector; all of these were great but they didn’t last. He wanted to provide them with skills which would last them a lifetime; that they would be so good at their work that their employers wouldn’t think of working without them and even if they chose to start on their own, they could be equally successful.

In September 2021, when Armstrong went down to Bangalore, he was introduced to this Navgurukul group through its founder Abhishek Gupta. They impart coding courses to boys and girls irrespective of their qualifications with all facilities being provided including food, lodging and a laptop to each student. He believed this was one perfect opportunity for boys and girls who had either dropped out of Class 12 or had graduated and doing nothing productive. He visited the campus and interacted with the students.

Within the next 45 days, Armstrong decided to set the ball rolling to select about 30 girls who were willing to try this course. After a basic assessment test, they came down to Bangalore. Most of these girls were either graduates or Class 10-12 pass or who had discontinued studies for various reasons. They were sitting idle at home and couldn’t find many opportunities to take up further.

When Armstrong came back to Bangalore in July 2022 and visited them Many of them had become experts in COMPUTER CODING programs like Python, Java, C++ etc. Apart from all these coding programs, they had gained immense confidence and were ready to face this competitive world.

Most of these girls have found lucrative placements. Four of the girls have joined the 'Accenture' company, and a few of them had been recruited by companies like 'iENERGIZER' and 'Workplace Options'. One of them had also been recruited to join the prestigious American software company “ThoughtSpot” with a salary package of Rs 3.7 lakhs per annum during an internship period of six months after which the CTC was to be around Rs 6.5-7 lakhs. This was all so incredible. This was a huge eye-opener as it demonstrated that if only opportunities were given, there was nothing too hard to learn.

Manory Zimik, from a remote village called Maku in Kamjong district in Manipur, came to join this Computer Coding Course NavGurukul, in the Bangalore campus was a daughter of a farmer who subsisted on 'jhum' cultivation. There was no other source of livelihood. With five other siblings, there was absolutely no means to study outside her district. She had graduated from a local college in Ukhrul and was stuck in a no man's land to pursue further.

Today, Minori is the one who is well placed in a reputed American Company, 'ThoughtSpot', as mentioned earlier with a CTC of Rs 3.7 lakhs during the internship. Who would have thought of a day when a rural village girl could now be as good as any Software Engineer from a big city? This is a story of just one of the several girls who had got placement.

Another such anecdote is of a girl, Giangkhamliu Grace Pamei, from Dailong village in the Tamenglong district of Manipur. Her father, Dennypou Pamei, who works as a carpenter also benefited from the initiative. For Dennypou, financing education for Grace and four other siblings was always a problem. After completing her B Com from a local college, she couldn’t afford to continue her higher education because of financial issues. Today, after this 10 months coding course, she has completed her Internship and now has joined 'Accenture' in Bangalore as a full-time employee. In her own words, “I couldn't even dream of such opportunities. This dream has come true and now this is the first step towards achieving greater heights and I will only grow from here.”

Ramchanphi, from Ningchou in Kamjong district, daughter of Prem Ninghsen who worked in the paramilitary force, right after her Class 12 now earns a salary of Rs 28,000 per month during her internship with 'Workplace Option' and is likely to cross Rs 5-6 lakhs per annum after the internship. People from the Northeast, working in other states, become homesick and usually want to go back to their native place, especially if the work is not so stable. An attempt was made to ensure even if these girls decide to go back home, they would be absorbed easily somewhere as the New Education Policy provides for Computer Education, including Coding. Else with such experiences, they can easily start their own enterprise.

Armstrong dreams of a day when the North Eastern part of India can become a hub of a talent pool for highly skilled professions for entire India and also for the entire South East Asia. NE can become a technology hub for the Southeast Asia region like the 'Silicon Valley of SouthEast Asia'. In this regard, the Manipur State Government itself is taking up several initiatives like setting up SEZ for IT hubs. During the last year, the State Government has also tied up with 'HCL' for a program called 'Techbee' which gives opportunities for Class 12 passed students to directly undergo training and then become employees of HCL along with pursuing degree courses from some of the prestigious universities in the country.

With this achieved so far, Armstrong now plans to scale this effort in the true spirit of Nexus of Good. He plans to train over 100 girls and a few boys within the next two months or so. He hopes that if he can train 1,000 boys and girls during the next few years, it will bring about a transformation in the region. Each of them will become self-dependent and trigger a chain reaction that will benefit the entire region.

Views expressed are personal

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