Kolkata: Empowering women through special career-readiness training

He was speaking at the closing ceremony of the Camp that was organised by the US Consulate General and Vikramshila Education Research Society.

Following a rigorous screening process and an interview held at Kolkata's American Centre, one hundred young women, mostly high school graduates, were chosen from Kolkata to undergo a 21-day training and grooming session in communication skills and career goal setting, job orientation, and other aspects that would make them self-confident and career-ready.

The curriculum was implemented through various workshops on film making and theatre,  career focused life skills, digital sessions where the participants learned the basics of CV writing, fill online forms, etc.

A special HR session was conducted at the camp, followed by a panel discussion by young women entrepreneurs.

The participants were awarded certificates and scholarships during the concluding ceremony.

Documentaries prepared by the participants on popular women achievers, such as Alakananda Roy, Dola Banerjee, Ranu Ghosh, Meghna Bhutoria, and Rekha Das, were also screened.

A documentary film titled 'Hundred New Beginnings' depicted the transformation that the young participants went through during the Camp.

Acknowledging the effort by the organisers and encouraging the young participants, Pardo said, "It's a closure [referring to the conclusion of the Camp] but according to me it's just the end of a chapter from an entire book."

Dr Sashi Panja, West Bengal's Minister for Women and Child Development and Social Welfare, said “English is the language of empowerment. Communication leads to empowerment and English being a global language, helps the process.”

Others present at the concluding ceremony were Shubhra Chatterji, Director of Vikramshila Education Research Society, social worker Alakananda Roy, film maker Ananya Chakraborty and singers Surajeet Chatterjee and Nipobithi Ghosh.

(Reporting by Shilpa Salwan)