Hyderabad: HRDI bags SKOCH Award
The institute successfully rolled out 62 online training programmes and covered a staggering over 10,000 officers not only from Telangana, but also from across the country, right from the top to the lowest rungs of administrative hierarchy”, - Harpreet Singh, DG, Dr MCR HRDI
Hyderabad: Dr MCR HRD Institute of Telangana won the prestigious SKOCH Governance Silver Award at the 68th SKOCH Summit for offering "virtual training programmes, despite Covid-19 scare". Harpreet Singh, Director-General of the Institute and Principal Secretary to the State government, received the award.
The SKOCH Group, which is India's leading think tank dealing with socio-economic issues, has instituted India's highest independent civilian honours and awards in the fields of governance, finance, technology, economics and social sector. "When the entire nation was under lockdown amid the Covid-19 pandemic, well laid-out plans went for a toss.
The institute also found itself on the horns of a dilemma - should it temporarily abandon its training programmes or convert the adversity into an opportunity", said Harpreet Singh at the virtual panel discussion during the SKOCH Summit.
Singh said that instead of putting the training programmes on hold, the institute took a bold decision to offer them through virtual mode, during the lockdown phase and the subsequent unlock phases. "The institute successfully rolled out 62 online training programmes and covered a staggering over 10,000 officers not only from Telangana, but also from across the country, right from the top to the lowest rungs of administrative hierarchy," he stated with a sense of pride.
The institute also trained over 80,000 field staff from different districts of Telangana during the last three years, in 15 soft skills and domain-specific e-learning modules, sponsored by DoPT, Government of India", he stated.
He said the institute is also mentoring other States, such as Punjab, MP, J & K, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, to train the trainers for e-learning training programme and, as a result, the Telangana now ranks number 1 in online training,
Singh said the success of the institute in offering training, via virtual mode, calls for its wider use for government employees in future, especially in the post-Covid scenario.
"When compared to the traditional face-to-face training, online training would enhance employees' access to training, in a big way, as they would be able to attend training programmes, in large numbers".