Hyderabad: Telangana’s push to bridge the gap between education and employment gained fresh momentum on Friday, with IT and Industries Minister Duddilla Sridhar Babu setting an ambitious target for the Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK) to train and place at least 6,000 unemployed youth in advanced technologies during the current academic year.
Chairing a review meeting at the Secretariat, Sridhar Babu praised TASK’s efforts in empowering students and job seekers with industry-relevant skills, noting that the academy had facilitated placements for 4,100 candidates in the past year alone. “TASK has been instrumental in transforming young lives by aligning training with industry needs,” he remarked, highlighting its role as a bridge between education and the job market.
The Minister was quick to underline TASK’s impact: over the past year, the academy had trained a record 1,37,677 students and nearly 2,800 faculty members across various technical and skill areas. “TASK also organised job fairs at 148 colleges in 21 districts, as well as on corporate campuses, helping thousands find meaningful employment,” he noted.
Among the success stories, American firm Verisk Analytics recruited tech professionals at an impressive annual package of Rs.11 lakh, while Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) selected 63 candidates at Rs.6 lakh each. Even the minimum package offered through TASK was Rs.2.4 lakh a testament to the academy’s growing influence in the job market. Hyundai Mobis also tapped into TASK’s talent pool, hiring 42 candidates.
Sridhar Babu highlighted other milestone initiatives, including the Green Skills Academy in partnership with 1M1B Foundation, which trained 7,000 students from Medchal, Sangareddy, Nizamabad, Kamareddy, and Mancherial districts. Notably, four of these students represented India at the UN Global Summit in New York in December 2024.
To ensure inclusivity, TASK signed an MoU with Tata Trusts to provide skills and entrepreneurship training for youth with disabilities. Another MoU with TVAGA is set to offer training in Animation, Gaming, VFX, and Comics over three years.
Looking ahead, Sridhar Babu revealed plans to collaborate with XR Monk to train 10,000 students in Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Mixed Reality technologies—key skills in today’s rapidly evolving job market. TASK has also begun digital upskilling initiatives, with the first workshop equipping 500 government employees with Microsoft AI tools.
“This comprehensive approach is about more than just jobs it’s about giving Telangana’s youth the future-ready skills they need to thrive,” Sridhar Babu said, summing up the government’s commitment to bridging the education-employment divide.
