Mumbai, July 2023.

Tata Motors, India’s leading automobile company, has joined hands with Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya to provide knowledge, hands-on automotive skills and industrial exposure to the students of secondary and senior secondary students of JNV as a part of the vocational courses envisioned in the ‘National Education Policy 2020’.Launched in 2022, the programme is on offer at 25 JNVs across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. So far, 2500 students have been imparted training under the programme and the training is expected to cover 5000 students this year.

Under this unique initiative, Tata Motors is utilizing its extensive expertise in the automobile domain to provide Automotive Courses (404 & 804) for vocational skilling to the students of JNVs. The course is offered to students in 9^thto 12^th grade and the curriculum and lab setup has been designed as per the CBSE guidelines and with inputs from the Tata Motors team. The program aims to equip students with hands-on automotive skills and industry exposure right within the school premises.

Tata Motors has created the required‘Automotive Skill Lab’ infrastructure at 25 JNVs schools and also conducted a training programme for the instructors teaching these vocational subjects. The training was conducted at the Tata Motors plant in Jamshedpur. After finishing their schooling with vocational automotive skills, students can opt for Diploma in Mechatronics that will be fully funded by Tata Motors. The students get an exposure to the on-the-job training in the TML manufacturing facility while earning stipend from the company. Post this, the students can either seek opportunity within the automotive industry or pursue B. Tech in engineering and follow the career progression thereafter.

Mr.Vinod Kulkarni, CSR Head at Tata Motorssaid, “We are committed towards enriching the lives of the youth of the country and upskilling is one of the means to achieve this goal. We are delighted to work with Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas to make students from underserved communities employable thus fuelling their career ambitions as well. The progression of the course into professional education helps students to envisage their future in this field. Further, this projectreiterates our commitment to nurturing talent, empowering youth, and bridging the skills gap in the automotive industry under the ‘Skill India Mission’. We are happy to enable cultivation of an engaged and skilled workforceand creating a future-ready workforce in partnership with JNVs.”

Mr.Vinayak Garg, Commissioner, Navodaya Vidyalaya Sangathan said, “We are delighted to partner with Tata Motors in this first of its kind of initiative wherein we are providing our students access to holistic education that includes both academic as well as vocational streams as per the NEP 2020. This partnership will enable the students get necessary knowledge and skills to succeed in a particular career or trade and align themselves with the current trends in the automotive industry.”