The Colombo Plan Staff College for Technician Education (CPSC) and the National Institute for Technical Teachers’ Training and Research in Bhopal inaugurated the 13th Champion Leaders Development Program on TVET Skills for Poverty Alleviation (SDPA) on December 16, 2013 at the Mani Auditorium, NITTTR, Bhopal. The opening ceremony was attended by 32 participants comprised of community polytechnic principals, administrators, and teachers from various Government Polytechnic Institutes and Community Colleges from different parts of India. The program is being held from December 16-20, 2013, at NITTTR Bhopal, India.

This special in-country program aimed to strengthen the capability of participants to formulate plans, design and implement programs relevant to aspects of TVET skills in alleviating poverty in the country.

Prof. Rajesh Khambayat, NITTTR Professor, former CPSC Faculty Consultant and the Program Coordinator, briefly introduced the program on how the project started, the program significance and the potential contributions of the program participants, which he called the Champion Leaders






The Director of NITTTR, Dr.Vijay K. Agrawal warmly welcomed the honorable Chief Guest, Prof. Piyush Trivedi, Vice Chancellor, RGPV, Bhopal; Dr. Rajesh Khambayat, Program Coordinator; Prof. Jain; the CPSC represented by Mr. Vergel B. Dela Paz, CPSC Administrative Support, participants from polytechnic institutes, and community colleges of different regions of India.  Dr. Agrawal expressed his appreciation to the Ministry of Human Resource Development, New Delhi and CPSC for the opportunity to stage this program.  He said that the program is an opportune time for them to contribute to such noble undertaking by partnering with CPSC and providing administrative and logistics support for the program.

Prof. Trivedi shared his thoughts to inspire all the people inside the hall by citing the achievement of neighboring China, in which he said is parallel to India in terms of abundance of natural resources and in population yet managed to create changes, transformed the quality of life of their people and placed their country on top in terms of economic development.  Prof. Trivedi further encouraged all participants to act as leaders and to strengthen commitment in creating changes that will promote quality of life for the society.

Dr. Mohammad Naim Yaakub, CPSC Director General, though not physically present during the program due to a pre-planned activity, delivered his video message to express his sincere appreciation to the Government of India, to the management of NITTTR under the leadership of Dr. Agrawal and the honorable guest.  In his video message, he also welcomed and greeted with high spirit the program participants and the honorable guest.




Group Photo (seated second from left: NITTTR Bhopal Prof. Jain;
NITTTR Bhopal Director Dr. Agrawal; Chief Guest Prof. Piyush Trivedi,
Vice Chancellor, RGPV, Bhopal; Dr. Rajesh Khambayat, NITTTR Professor and
Program Coordinator; and Mr. Vergel Dela Paz, CPSC Representative)
Embedded in the program is a National Seminar on TVET Skills for Enhancing Youth Employability: Perspectives and Strategies which will be held on December 19, 2013, targeting to reach a larger number of participants in advocating TVET Skills for poverty alleviation.At the end of the program, the participants are expected to come up with an action plan that will tackle poverty alleviation in the country through skills development program design, planning and implementation and are encouraged to continuously submit reports on the said activities for the program.