First week of class begins; despite a lot of general interest, ideal candidates low

My major goal for this week was to successfully kick off the class with two batches of students.
The class kicked off on Monday with an inauguration ceremony. Despite a verbal “yes” from 12 student, only 4 showed up on the day. During the week, there has been considerable interest in students wanting to enroll in the class. However, currently I’m keeping the focus of the class to only those students currently looking for employment. The numbers have been slowly growing this week, particularly spread due to word-of-mouth from the current students. At this point, we have around 12 students who have attended the class.
Over the next week, I’ll be making efforts to bring the numbers up to at least 2 full batches of students. This week, I started teaching the class myself, and will renew the focus on finding a qualified teacher next week. There were two good candidates who interviewed this week – I’ll have to revisit my business model to see if we can afford their salaries.
In addition, to publicize the different vocational activities that GDL is now starting, we will be holding a ‘career fair’ on the Sunday, 30th September. I have a recruiter from Jaipur confirmed for the event, who can speak to the availability and requirements for computer-based jobs. Another guest speaker, who operates a training centre in Jaipur that has successfully trained and placed students in such jobs, will confirm within the next 2 days.
The curriculum has also benefited immensely from a new addition to the team, GDL intern Alim Haji, who brings with him prior experience in teaching computer basics and developing curriculum. In addition to developing the training for the rural BPO, he will continue to refine the curriculum for the vocational training computer class.
- Ashish
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