Smile Twin e-Learning Programme (STeP) works for the marginalised youth, helping them attain a decent employment by providing vocational education and training. Targeting girls and boys between the age group of 18 and 25 years, the programme strives to empower them through market-oriented skill training, along with placement support in the end. In addition to enhancing the youth’s prospects of employment in the fast expanding retail and service sector, the programme aims at making them confident and independent to lead dignified lives.
Impact of the programme in 2017:
STeP spread its reach in 12 cities across 9 states including Delhi, Haryana, UP, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. In total, 9468 youth were trained during the year.
The capability, skills, and learning levels of a student can be judged through regular assessments. This not only helps teachers to improve their modes of teaching but also helps students to understand their weaknesses and strengths, giving them an opportunity to improve their performance. The programme initiated centralized assessments of the trainees across the country which helped in standardising the process.
To improve the capacity of the STeP trainers and encourage them to use learner-friendly teaching methods, extensive four days training sessions were conducted in Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru.
Exposure visits took the students outside the confines of the classroom into the real world where they would soon be working. Employer engagement programme brought professionals from the industry into the classroom who shared their experiences. 213 employer engagement sessions and 203 industry exposure visits were held during the year.
STeP programme’s central placement cell coordinated with potential employers in the retail and service sectors and was able to achieve around 70% placement, securing employment for 5256 youth. STeP has tied up with over 150 reputed brands like Airtel, Eureka Forbes, Burger King, Reliance Market, HDFC Bank, Aegis, Wave Cinemas, D-Mart, Westside and Vodafone to provide employment to the trainees.
STeP was benefitted significantly by volunteers from Universities and colleges, who as part of the internship programme, assisted the STeP coordinators. The volunteers conducted sessions for the trainees on retail management and communication skills; workshops on confidence building; role plays and activities as part of personality development.
To know more about our STeP programme please log in to http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/e_learning.html
