ITI Berhampur
Headmasters from 622 schools from 22 blocks of Ganjam district in Odisha today (June 22) decided to adopt ITI Berhampur’s ‘Waste to Wealth’ model by training students to convert scraps into sculptures and models. At a workshop attended by the school heads, organized by ITI Berhampur, it was decided that students from these schools will visit the ITI Berhampur campus in batches to learn the skills of converting waste and scrap into wealth. This will be part of the 5T (teamwork, technology, transparency, transformation and time limit) action plan of the Odisha government prepared for the education department.
The livewire behind this ‘Waste to Wealth’ innovative concept is Dr. Rajat Kumar Panigrahy, Director, ITT, Berhampur, known as the “Scrap Man of Odisha”, who explained to the school headmasters how waste and scrap can be converted into beautiful models and sculptures by school students. He pointed out how converting waste and scrap into wealth can improve environment.
ITI Berhampur
Dr Panigrahy urged the school heads to motivate girl students to adopt skills that would help them to join technical education under the ‘Sudakhya’ scheme initiated by the Odisha government. The Sudakhya scheme aims at generating self-employment opportunities for girls and women by enrolling them in government it is.
ITI Berhampur
Berhampur Municipal Corporation commissioner Sri J. Sonal, who attended the workshop, appreciated the innovative skills of ITI students in converting scrap into wealth. "I am highly delighted to see the sofas on which we are sitting on the dais. This is a commendable attitude of ITI students who converted waste into usable products," he said.
ITI Berhampur
V. Keerthi Vasan, IAS, project director of District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) appreciated the initiative of ITI director in promoting ‘Waste to Wealth’ skills among youths. He said it was a big initiative by inviting students from more than 600 schools to come to the ITI campus to learn these skills.
Binita Senapati, district education officer, Ganjam, requested all school heads to promote technical education skills among their students, and organize visits to the ITI campus for adopting ‘Waste to Wealth’ concept.
Later, the students and staff of ITI took all the school heads around the campus and showed them various workshops, e-lab, scrap pard, Covid Innovation Centre and Scrap Museum.
