Jorhat, Aug. 27: A college here has joined hands with a tea company to offer a diploma course to produce skilled workforce for the tea industry or to enable youths to set up small plantations.

Retired scientists of Tocklai Tea Research Institute here will be hired as resource persons for the yearlong UGC-approved course at Jorhat Kendriya Mahavidyalaya in collaboration with Bokahola Tea Company.

College principal Munindra Konwar told The Telegraph the diploma in tea plantation and management was launched from the new academic session (2015-16) this month, under the UGC's community college scheme.

He said under the scheme, short-term courses on skill development could be introduced by colleges to impart training to youths for employment in different industrial sectors.

"After carrying out a study, we found Assam's tea industry has a lot of employment opportunities, including self-employment. Moreover, our youths are interested in tea cultivation as small growers have brought a kind of economic revolution in the past 25 years," Konwar said.

He said that since Jorhat was an important district in the tea belt, consultations were held with several tea industry captains before the college decided to launch the diploma course. Supervisors in plantations, factories, godowns and offices (clerical staff) are required and with modernisation in each branch, the demand for skilled people would go up, Konwar said.

Noted planter P.K. Bezboruah, a former chairman of the Assam Tea Planters' Association and current vice-chairman of the Tea Research Association, supported the idea and offered his estates, factories and offices to be used for visits by students for practical classes.

The principal said the MoU was accordingly signed with Bezboruah's Bokahola Tea Company as a partner in running the course. He said the course has been prepared by a group of academicians and three retired scientists of Tocklai with inputs from the tea industry according to the guidelines of the National Skill Development Council (agriculture).

Konwar said the three retired scientists - Dimbeshwar Gogoi, Deben Saikia and Uttam Baruah - have been hired as resource persons to conduct the course with support from the teachers of the college's botany department.

He said the course has been designed in such a manner that existing small growers could also enlist and upgrade their skills and the graduates could either get employed in estates or set up small plantations on their own. He added the All Assam Small Tea Growers Association (Jorhat unit) has also offered to let students visit their plantations.

Konwar said the Tea Board office here has also responded positively to its request to assist in providing value addition to the course. He said the course has been divided into two semesters.

He said there are 50 seats, with those having passed higher secondary being eligible. Ten girls and seven students from the tea tribe community have already enrolled for the course. The students will get Rs 1,000 scholarship per month from UGC while the course fee is Rs 1,200.

Bezboruah said the course was a "good initiative" as it would benefit the students and the industry.

Jorhat Kendriya Mahavidyalaya, a co-educational institute established in 1981, has arts and science streams with nearly 1,200 students (HS included).