New Delhi, May 18 (ANI-NewsVoir): Tech Mahindra Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of Tech Mahindra Limited (a Mahindra Group company), has launched the Tech Mahindra SMART Academy for Healthcare in Delhi, with a commitment to setting new standards of excellence in the domain of training paramedics in the years to come, and enable thousands of young women and men lead a life of dignity in the Healthcare sector.

The inauguration ceremony took place on Saturday May 14th in the presence of the foundation's vice chairman Vineet Nayyar and CEO Loveleen Kacker along with other dignitaries.

The Academy marks a significant milestone in the journey of expanding the foundation's 'SMART' employability programme. Through this initiative, Tech Mahindra Foundation aims inculcate human values, provide contemporary knowledge and impart high quality skill training, thereby creating employment opportunities for young men and women in Allied Health Services, across the country. In full capacity, the Academy will train 2,000 young boys and girls.

"We want to equip youth from low-income families with skills that will help them begin a career in healthcare. There is a huge gap between demand and supply in the field of Allied Healthcare not just in the city of Delhi but the entire country, and the Academy is a small step in the direction of meeting this demand," said Loveleen Kacker, CEO Tech Mahindra Foundation.

The training programme of the Academy is a good blend of theory and practice, with an emphasis on the latter. The theory classes will be delivered by highly qualified and experienced faculty members and guest experts. The Academy has best of its class infrastructure that includes comfortable classrooms, modern audio-visual equipment including teaching aids, demonstration rooms. For practical on-the-job training, the students will be affiliated to different healthcare organizations so that their training experience is rich and dynamic.

The academic environment at the SMART Academy is augmented by a well-equipped IT lab, technical laboratories, a well-stocked library and also an ambulance where the students can gain realistic training on managing emergencies. Students are encouraged to discover their aptitude, strengths, and areas of interest. In addition to healthcare-related courses, the students are also trained on communication skills and work readiness to equip them to face the challenges of competitive work environment.

The Tech Mahindra SMART Academy for Healthcare has been set up in collaboration with the Harijan Sewak Sangh, a social development organisation founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1932. It will be located at the Gandhi Ashram, Kingsway Camp, New Delhi.

"The Tech Mahindra Foundation would like to sincerely thank Shri S. S. Sanyal and Shri LaxmiDass of the Sangh, who have opened the doors of their sprawling campus in North Delhi to us for the Academy," added Kacker.

Tech Mahindra Foundation (TMF) focuses its work on three areas of development - school education, employability and disability. It has been running 150 projects with 100 partners across India and has reached out to 80,000 primary and 400,000 secondary/tertiary beneficiaries. With this the Foundation has established itself as one of the leading CSRs in the country.

In 2012, TMF launched its flagship programme in Employability - the SMART (Skills-for-Market Training) Programme. This programme provides basic employability skills in sectors such as Retail, Hospitality, ITES, and Healthcare and is implemented through a network of NGO partners in all the cities where TMF is operational. More than 20,000 youngsters are being trained in the SMART programme each year, with over 75 percent being placed in dignified jobs in the organised sector. (ANI-NewsVoir)