Guwahati: Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday launched the first government course to prepare youths belonging to the tea garden community for civil services examinations here.

The three-month coaching course, sponsored by the state tea tribes welfare department, will train 30 youths in the first batch. Sonowal said the government would increase the number to 300 if the youths performed well in exams.

Fifteen of the 30 youths are from the arts stream and the rest are from science and commerce. The minimum cut-off marks to get training is 50 per cent in graduation.

Sonowal urged the youths to work dedicatedly and clear the civil services examinations so that they can become a source of inspiration for students of their community.

"Your success will inspire many from your community to aim high and strive to bring changes to their lives through education. You should become the beacon and symbol of optimism for your community which has not been able to reap the benefits of development for decades," he said.

"The tea garden community has made lots of contribution to greater Assamese society and its youth must take it upon themselves to bring about transformation through knowledge and education. Our government is committed to facilitate the required infrastructure for ushering in development in the tea garden areas," the chief minister said.

Sonowal said the state government would organise Shramik Kalyan Divas on November 23 in memory of Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS) leader Santosh Kumar Topno.

Jorhat MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa said students from the tea community had to face a lot of hardship earlier to establish themselves and attain a dignified position which is not the case any more. He said the students selected for the training programme must reap the benefits of the courses and try to clear civil services examinations.

Minister of tea tribes welfare department Pallab Lochan Das, and MLAs Sanjay Kishan, Teras Gowala, Durga Bhumij and Siladitya Deb attended the programme.