By Mr Ammar Prabhu for BISMumbai

The seminar on ‘Strategies for Technical Institute Principals of INB’ organised by the Technical Commission of the Salesian Province of Bombay (INB) was held on 11 August 2023 at Don Bosco Center for Learning (DBCL), Kurla. 

The seminar began by invoking God’s presence with a prayer by Fr Anthony Pinto, the Rector of DBCL. Later, Fr Pinto addressed the gathering. He gave a brief history of DBCL and highlighted the importance of being connected with the industry to sustain Salesian-run ITIs. Fr Anaclete D’Mello, the Head of the Technical Commission, began by thanking DBCL for hosting this event. He spoke of how the ITI caters to the poor young people of the area, working for the poor and marginalised in society by providing them technical skills. 

Fr Ashley Miranda, the Vice-Provincial, emphasised that we are all not experts but learners, building our competencies and looking at new ways to approach a mission is very important, and for the Salesians, technical education is a top priority. He ended by invoking the blessing of Don Bosco and congratulating everyone for the work being done.

Sessions were based on topics dealing with industry partnership, internship and entrepreneurial mindset, and soft skills development. It was also a momentous occasion when Fr Miranda, on behalf of DBCL, exchanged the signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Mr Nitin Jhamb, who represented the Wadhwani Foundation, for providing soft skills training to the Don Bosco ITIs.

Mr Charles Williams gave a quick insight into important cyber smart behaviours through the five topics of social media safety, cyberbullying, financial security, public interest, and cyber grooming. The participants then continued with the session in the board room on ‘The Future of Technology and Technical Education’. Mr Naishadh Paleja, Founder and CEO of Feast Software, gave the presentation,  which was followed by a live demonstration of Virtual Reality (VR) headsets. 

This was a first-of-its-kind seminar and an attempt to bring together the Head of Institutions and Principals  to bring synergy to the functioning of Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) across the province through the exchange of ideas and working together to achieve the common goal of providing skill education to the young.