Catholic Church and the Indian government to help 60 thousand poor students
(July 09, 2010) More than 60 thousand poor students from various Indian states will
find work through a joint project of Salesians priests and the Indian Ministry for
Agriculture and Rural Development. The initiative consists of three months of free
training courses in hotel management, engineering, automobile construction, tailoring
and handicrafts. This is the largest program undertaken by the government in collaboration
with the Indian Catholic Church. Fr. Robin Gomes, a Salesian missionary in Calcutta,
says: "Over the last three years we have been discussing how to educate young people
who are below the poverty line with the ministry. So we saw the possibility of conducting
training in a specific area of learning funded by the Ministry using the over 100
Salesian technical institutes in India". Fr. Gomes says the program is up and running
since June 20 in the state of West Bengal. It involves students between 18 and 30
divided into classes of 60 people. "We are delighted, he says to help and serve poor
students and the country through this project. I hope that this cooperation between
Church and government can continue in the future.”