Tata Infotech in agreement with Haryana govt

Tata Infotech has signed an agreement with the Government of Haryana to provide IT training in the government schools and colleges in the state. The contact is for five years during which the company will set up the training facilities, devise the curriculum and provide trainers for the project.

The Government's role will be restricted to providing the space in the premises. The company has already set up presence in 250 schools and 50 colleges in Haryana.

The computer courses are optional for students and they will have to bear the expenses on their own. That is why the company has a clause in place that it will set up shop in the campus only if a minimum of 200 students sign for the courses.

"A number less than 200 students becomes unviable. The experience of other training players in setting have shown that without a threshold number of students the project can become unviable," said Rahul Thapan, Head (Education Services Division), Tata
Infotech.

Thapan also said that the stipulation for a threshold number is especially important in the case of schools since students are young and may not be able to appreciate the benefits of learning a computer course at that age. While at the college level, students are themselves able to realize the significance of a computer course especially in career prospects.

With the IT retail training market being one of the worst hit by the slowdown, training majors have now cast their eyes on alternate markets like government schools and colleges. NIIT, Aptech and STG already have agreements with many state governments to set up presence in government schools and colleges.

Tata Infotech has another understanding with the Government of West Bengal to set up presence in government colleges in the state, in association with Webel. It has already rolled out presence in 70 colleges in Bengal. The company has its presence in all the colleges in Chandigarh and 16 colleges in Punjab. The Punjab Government has agreements with NIIT, Aptech and Tata Infotech to set up training institutes in school and college campuses.