The German-supported Skill Development Program “Facility Care and Maintenance” was inaugurated in June at the newly build GMR Varalakshmi Foundation (GMRVF) vocational training Centre near Dwarka, New Delhi. This training centre is a part of the collaboration between
VDMA, GIZ and the FM industry in India for skill development programme.
The programme includes class room training (75% practical) and industry attachment with substantial time to practice skills to ensure that the trainees are well experienced in effectively using modern technology for facility cleaning. FIGR Germany has supported in the conceptualization of the curriculum for the training program-a well-established and highly revered Institute of Facility Management across Germany. The current curriculum for the training of cleaning operators has been adapted in consultation and active participation of the Indian FM Market and cleaning machinery manufacturers.
The trainees interacted with various FM companies’ representatives and machine suppliers at the inauguration. Many FM companies came forward to offer on-the-job training as well as placement support for the trainees.
Dr Peter Hug, MD – EUnited-Cleaning, addressed concerns on quality and standardisation of the training processes and formalising the vocational training in the FM industry. Some of the speakers at the event included Anil Sethi ( MD Karcher India), Dr JPS Bakshi (Global Excellence Group), Venu Madhavan (VP Sales & Business Promotion Roots Multiclean India), Fr. AM Joseph (Executive Director Don Bosco Tech), Jayaraman Nair, (Chairman, Virtual Info Systems Pvt. Ltd), Brig. Jaitly (Knight Frank), Rajesh Kumar (ISS), Sanjeev Kumar (Sodexo), Mrinal Madhur (Compass Group), Rajiv Sethi (Service Max) and Shiv Batra (Hans Tara).
The group discussion brought forward the following suggestions:
a) Training Centres should have a library with print and digital resources on cleaning sector for the trainees. This could also include FM company brochures and other reports and training material for the training institutes
b) It was suggested that training handbook which could be used by cleaning operators, should be developed and used as part of training in near future. The handbook should prescribe to international code and procedures to ensure standardization of industry practices
c) The cleaning practices must be introduced in schools in collaboration with school principals so that children from the very beginning have positive attitude towards the trade
d) The Training program must also aim at training the trainees in basics of sector-wise cleaning and differences between corporate, industrial cleaning etc.
e) In terms of contribution that could come from the FM Industry, agreement was on:
i. FM companies to send resource persons to the training who can coach on industry relevant aspects and motivate the students by helping them understand career growth in the sector
ii. FM companies must formalize On-the- job training and placement arrangement with the training partner to streamline training processes for future scale-up of the training program
iii. FM Companies to support On-the-Job training by taking in trainees from the current batch.
The representatives from almost all the companies present supported the idea and ensured full cooperation in the task
f) Special emphasis was laid on formalizing arrangement of On-the-job training with FM companies for future. This should entail;
i. Trainees must be distributed in the ratio of 1:6 (one supervisor for six trainees) since one company cannot absorb too many students
ii. The training partner must emphasize and specify the tasks that the trainee must have undergone by the end of OTJ
iii.The supervising team must meet the trainees before absorbing them for OTJ to understand what the trainees require and which site they need exposure in
