Shillong, Nov. 24: Williamnagar in Meghalaya’s East Garo Hills district became the first beneficiary of the government-run IT Training Centre, established under the chief minister’s Career Guidance Scheme,

Classes for the first batch of 20 students started on November 20, East Garo Hills deputy commissioner Vijay Kumar Mantri said.

The centre was inaugurated by state sports and youth affairs minister Zenith M. Sangma during his recent visit to Williamnagar.

Admission in the centre, established and managed by the East Garo Hills district administration, is entirely “free of cost”, Mantri said.

Any student from the district, who has passed 10+2, is eligible for admission to the centre.

He said highly qualified trainers, including the district information officer, National Informatics Centre are currently taking classes.

“We intend to invite professionals from outside Meghalaya once the centre starts advanced IT courses. The centre now offers basic course in IT consisting basic computer operation skills, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, DTP, and others,” Mantri said.

He also said the basic course is structured in a way to provide sufficient skills and confidence to a student to seek IT-related employment or pursue professional IT courses.

The district administration has received more than 100 applications, which is why it intends to start more than two parallel batches.

“This is a great opportunity for the youth in an insurgency-affected district,” Mantri said.

East Garo Hills is one of the most insurgency-affected districts in Meghalaya.

Williamnagar, the district headquarters, though, is the only “planned town” in the entire state.

It is situated on the upper reaches of the Simsang river, and for this reason it was originally called Simsanggre. The name was rechristened in 1976 to Williamnagar, after Meghalaya’s first chief minister Captain Williamson A. Sangma.