Indian High Commissioner for Maldives, Rajeev Sahare has said that capacity building has been and shall remain the cornerstone of the bilateral relationship between India and Maldives.
He made this remark at the closing ceremony of the prestigious programme aptly titled “Technology for the Future of Next Gen”.
The US$ 5.3 million program, fully funded by the Government of India, was conceived and executed for the benefit of Maldivian teachers and youngsters. The program is the biggest ever IT skills training program conducted in the Maldives covering 3 out of every 4 Maldivian teachers (total 3053) and almost 2500 youngsters.
“It is comprehensive in its geographical spread as well reaching out to even the far-flung islands of all the 19 administrative atolls. While unfortunately we could not have the teachers, who benefited from the program to share their experiences, physically with us here, we have heard them through the digital medium, which strongly reiterated the usefulness of the program. I am sure the program was beneficial to the youth as well by imparting IT skills thereby increasing the employment avenues to them. My deep appreciation for the implementing agencies for the successful completion of the program,” he said.
He said that the sharing of knowledge and expertise has continued through several centuries and today India offers one of the most comprehensive training programs for Maldivians – both short-term and long-term.
The High Commissioner added that skill upgradation and training is extended not only to the Govt. officials in various ministries, but also to the independent institutions like the Anti-Corruption Commission, Elections Commission, Auditor General’s office, Majlis.
“Recently, the Civil Service Commission has signed an MoU with the Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad for training of Maldivian civil servants on a regular basis in India. We are encouraging similar MoUs between Indian and Maldivian organisations in the area of training and human resource development.” He said.